The Abyss of a Heart
by jaarli
Summary: LaraKurtis. Set after the AOD. Will Lara and Kurtis be able to stop Karel from gaining a power to rule over afterlife? Finished
1. In a Hurry

disclaimer: I don't own any of the TRAOD characters, not Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent, Eckhardt, Boaz of Karel  
  
In a hurry  
  
Lara kept on running while the room where she had fought Eckhardt and Karel was falling apart. She didn't care about the periapt shards or the sanglyph. Only thing she had in mind was to get herself out of that place as quickly as possible without having major injuries. It seemed that the whole Strahov Fortress or at least this part of it was going to fall down any second. She could se the end of the hallway but it seemed too far. She ran as fast as she could and tried to avoid getting smashed under a piece of a rock. The rest of the journey she had to jump and she barely avoided a large rock that sealed the hallway like a tomb that should have never been opened.  
  
She was back in the place where she had last seen Kurtis and the room didn't seem to be falling apart so she had little rest. Every part of her body was aching as she sat down and hang her head. This was far more stranger than she had been through before...or perhaps not quite. On her journeys she had met an Egyptian god, been to Atlantis, found a dagger that turned anyone who struck it in their heart into a dragon and seen a man becoming a giant spider. Well...perhaps this wasn't the strangest thing. But this time had been different. It wasn't about some artefact buried thousands of years ago. It was simply about revenge from her and his side. Lara raised her head and noticed that the room was as silent as the grave. She stood up and walked to the edge of the arena where she had left Kurtis. There was no one...at least no humans. A carcass that seemed to belong to Boaz laid almost in the middle of the room. Little farther away she could see some humanlike creature, but it had wings. What was it? She jumped down and decided to take a closer look. The creature looked like it had once been a woman...Boaz? Kurtis was no where to be seen. Only thing that told her that he had been there was the strange weapon of his that laid on the floor covered in blood. Carefully she picked it up like fearing it would turn into dust from her touch. It didn't. Instead it sprang to life like she had seen it doing many times...but only in Kurtis's precense.  
  
It started to draw her towards something like a strong magnet. Following it she entered former Boaz' lair and to her surprise found a door that was wide open. Its handle was bloody and the ground seemed to have turned read from time to time. She stepped forward only to find herself in a great hall. How had they managed to keep Boaz inside that room remained as a mystery to Lara. There was a trail of blood that Kurtis's strange weapon urged to follow. It didn't take too long until she found him curled up against a wall nearby. The chirugai, his strange weapon, stopped glowing suddenly and she run to see if he was still alive. He was. Slowly he opened his eyes when he saw her moving closer. He tried to say something that the words died before they could escape his lips. In his deep blue eyes was a look of a caged animal, a look that had no hope, only pain. Lara raised his hand that he had held on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Her eyes flew open. His wound was larger than she had expected.  
  
"Can you walk?", she asked fearing the answer.  
  
"I can try", he answered with a voice almost as silent as a whisper.  
  
"Trying won't help us", she said trying not to sound worried and got him to his feet.  
  
There was a painful grin on his almost white face. Somehow he managed to limp forward with her help. It took many precious minutes to get them to a door in the end of the corridor. Lara laid Kurtis on the floor and tried to open the door. It was locked but the lock didn't seem to be very strong. She took her pistol, shot the lock and kicked the door open. She was totally surprised when she found out that she saw a park. She had found a way out. Close by she saw a woman talking in a mobile. Lara sprinted towards her. She almost bumped into her managing to stop only a little while earlier.  
  
"There is man...wounded", she told to the woman breathing heavily. The woman seemed ro ignore her totally. Frustration run through Lara and she snatched the phone from the woman's hand. "Don't or your never see next Saturday", Lara snapped as the woman tried to take the phone back. "What is the number of the nearest hospital?" The face of the woman turned white as she thought that Lara was ordering an ambulance to take her to hospital...after what ever she had in mind for her.  
  
"The number?", Lara asked feeling her blood beginning to boil. The woman was shaking. "Look lady!", Lara started. "A friend of mine will die if you don't give me the god damn number!"  
  
Finally the woman undestood and Lara was able to call the hospital. The woman promised to tell to the paramedics were Kurtis was and Lara was able to get back inside to help him.  
  
When Lara got back inside she saw him lying on the floor and rushed to see if he was still alive. Just and just. He seemed to be unconcious. Lara searched her backbag to see if she had any bandages or anything to try and stop the bleeding with. Time from that moment to the one when the ambulance arrived seemed to last forever and fear of loosing Kurtis was growing inside Lara. Finally the paramedics came and they headed for hospital. 


	2. All the Shades of Pale

disclaimer: For the whole story. I don't own any of the characters that appeared in Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness   
  
All the shades of pale  
  
All that happened next happened very fast. All but the drive to the hospital. As soon as the ambulance stopped Kurtis had been taken away from her and now she sat in some sort of a waiting room with a cup of tea that some nurse had made her to buy. The tea itself was long cold and the thought of drinking it had never crossed her mind. Lara found herself staring at a door for no real reason...maybe just to rest her eyes in something and trying to calm her mind down. She had never really liked hospitals. They reminded her from only one thing - death. Here people came to die. Some of old age and the others...who knows. Time seemed to be her enemy she thought and because of her it never moved more than couple minutes between her glares. Every minute more told to her that he wouldn't make it. It really couldn't take that long. He had been in surgery about four hours now.  
  
Lara was just about to loose hope when she saw a nurse coming toward and stood up quickly. The nurse made her sit again and looked at her almost motherly.  
  
There was something not good in the look of nearly fifty years old woman. Lara could see it even she was trying to hide it.  
  
"How is he?", Lara asked almost bitterly.  
  
The nurse didn't meet Lara's look. "He survived the surgery"  
  
This didn't sound so bad as Lara had thought. "What's wrong then?"  
  
"During the surgery his heart stopped" Lara gasped as the nurse said this. "We managed to bring him back but only after several minutes..."  
  
"How many?", Lara asked althought she didn't really want to know.  
  
"Little over fifteen", nurse answered and she didn't need to go on. Lara knew exactly what it meant. She knew what it could have done to his brain.  
  
"He's in coma", nurse said.  
  
Lara seemed shocked even though she had been expecting something like this. "Will he wake up?", she asked after a little while.  
  
"That is a question no doctor on earth, no matter how good they are, can answer"  
  
Lara nodded.  
  
"We usually won't let visitors in if something like this happens, not so soon after a surgery, but in this case I'll make an exeption"  
  
She and Lara both stood up and the younger woman followed the older one up the stairs and in to a room. The nurse stood a while at the door.   
  
"You propably want to be alone"  
  
Lara only nodded. After the nurse was gone she looked at the man lying on the bed. It was hard to think that he was alive. Being alive had always meant a certain light in the eyes, little redness on the cheeks, fiery spirit and most of all the feeling that the other one was in the room to Lara. None of those things could be sensed in this white hospital room where only things that told he was still alive were the humming of a ventilator and the green line on the cardiathric monitor and of course the slow movement of his chest when he inhaled or exhaled.   
  
Lara felt tears running down her face and wiped them of. Why was she crying over someone she had known for only few days and during that time talked to him only three times. She was obviously losing it. Although she knew the reason she tried not to except it. She had never believed in love...not after what had happened to her parents. Of course she had had relationships and even love with a man called Alex West but that had only made her more certain of the fact that love didn't exist in the form told in romantic tales. But now she felt fondness toward the man on the hospital bed, something she had never felt before. It was a warm feeling, something that almost filled her heart entirely. She took his hand into hers. It was cold, not the hand that had ventured down her arm and across her stomach in the Louvre. Not that hand that had sent sparkles flying through her body. It was a soulless hand,a dead man's hand. This man wasn't the one she met in the Louvre and in the biological research center. This was only the body, an empty container.  
  
Lara had always thought were people in coma went. She didn't believe coma was only a sleep-like state. If it was what were the stories about bright light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe there wasn't any bright light or a tunnel but a place, a memory where the ones in coma had always wanted to go back to. Perhaps in Kurtis' case it was the last time he spent with his father. In her case it most definately would've been. Her large brown eyes wandered back to see his face. It had to be like that. Some people had been in coma for nearly thirty years. Had their minds just waited all that time? 


	3. Setbacks

Please tell me if I should go on  
  
Setbacks  
  
Kurtis had been in hospital for several days now but there was no change in his condition. Not a single siqn of that glow that had existed in him before. It seemed like someone had just turned the lights off. She hadn't gone home to England. She had rented a small room from a lady accross the street. Quite near the hospital, she though. The lady herself was nice. Somehow it felt that she could see inside Lara's soul and see all the pain and frustration hidden in it. Lara spent most of her time walking around in the streets and sitting in Kurtis's room looking at those colourless face of his.  
  
Today she had walked down the streets, found some nice souvenirs to her butler although she didn't get anykind of pleasure from it. She walked towards the hospital and to her surprise saw people running out of there screaming. Her curiosity woke up and she began to walk faster till she had almost reached the hospital. She caught one man who was running in almost panic-like way by the hand.  
  
"What's happening in there?", she yelled to be sure that the man heard.  
  
"Some wacko came in and started to kill patients. Yelled he was waiting someone called Croft to arrive" the man said shivering.  
  
Shivers crawled in Lara's body too. Who could be there, who could be waiting for her.   
  
The man seemed to notice the look in Lara's eyes. "You're Croft, aren't you?" Lara had no other choice than to nod. "Then it is you who he wants!", the man yelled and run away.  
  
Lara stared for a little while but ran into the building soon after. The whole place was a mess and staff was nowhere to be seen. There was litter on the corridors and inconcious people lying in their beds or on the floor. Kurtis. Lara started running. She ran up the stairs and into his room only to see that there were people gathered in it. One of these she recognized the others were unfamiliar to her.  
  
"So...you finally arrived", said the blond man beside the ventilation machine. "Thought we wouldn't find you and your little firend, eh?"  
  
This was the man Lara had recognized. It was Karel and he held his finger on the on/off switch of the ventilation machine.  
  
"What do you want, Karel?", she asked like she wouldn't care if Karel decided to use the switch.  
  
"Just a little help from you"  
  
"And what do I profit from it?"  
  
"Your little puppet here has a chance to wake up then. If you don't accept the 'invitation' it all ends here for him" As to demonstrate he used the switch once keeping the machine of for a minute. Lara could hear her heart pounding. Karel switched the machine back on.  
  
"Something little I thought only you could manage...after the Vault of Trophies it's not very big a deal"  
  
"What is it then", Lara asked trying to appear calm.  
  
"Want you to get something for me. You destroyed the first attempt but luckily that wasn't the only way to bring nephilim back."  
  
Lara's heart jumped. So this was the deal. He wouldn't switch off the machine that held Kurtis alive and she would go and destroy everything he had fought for to save his life. If she didn't agree she would never see him again. If she did agree she at least would have a chance to stop Karel once and for all.  
  
"It's a deal", she said quietly and Karel lifted his finger from the switch.   
  
Lara wasn't sure how this would end up but at least he would be alive even if she wasn't and right now his being alive seemed to be the only thing that mattered to her. 


	4. Joyride

First: Thanks for the reviews. I actually thought no one was going to read it.  
  
Ms.Croft, I presume: You're quite right there. My mother tonque is Finnish.  
  
horsecrazy2: I'm sorry about those tenses. My English teacher told me about the same thing as well as my problems with some prepositions.  
  
disclaimer: I don't own any character wwho you have seen in the game Tomb Raider Angel of darkness. Only the plot is mine.  
  
I'm sorry about all the mistakes there might be in this one. I'm not so good in English. It's short I know and nothing really exciting happens in it.  
  
Joyride  
  
Saddness claimed Lara when she sat in Karel's car watching the hospital growing smaller and smaller. For a moment she thought about running away but that would mean jumping from a moving vehicle and running. No high hopes there. What chances would she have? Karel had the car although he wasn't driving. The driver was an elderly man, maybe 60. He had dark hair and here and there a few white strangs could be seen. Her eyes met his in the mirror and she saw the pain and fear in them. Was this man some kind of a slave?  
  
Something in his eyes was disturbingly familiar. They were brown and soft. The kind of eyes that could bore holes in ones very soul. His face seemed familiar also. She had seen something similar very lately. Suddenly it hit her. The familirity of those face was shocking. He looked like Kurtis, only much older. She turned her eyes away from his. Could it be? Kurtis had told her that his father was dead. He had been to his father's funeral but had never really seen his corpse. That might mean only one thing. All the years Kurtis had thought his father was dead he had been alive. A slave to Karel's will. It didn't surprise her as much as it should have. She had heard about something similar not so long ago. She had lived through something like that very recently. Everyone had thought she had died in Egypt.  
  
She also knew it didn't take much to bent one's will. Karel had done it to her in the hospital. Love was a strange thing. It made you do things you wouldn't normally do. If Kurtis had been a total strager instead of being just a stranger she had known for a short while she propably wouldn't have done anything to stop Karel from killing him. What if Karel had done something similar to Kurtis's father. Threatened something that meant more than his life or the world to him. His son...maybe his wife. Kurtis had never told her about his mother. Lara didn't know if she was still alive.  
  
Maybe that was how Karel learned about the Vault of Trophies. Maybe that was why they hadn't killed Kurtis when he had been captured. Suddenly Lara felt so stupid. Maybe they wouldn't have killed him in the hospital either. Again their eyes looked into each others through the mirror. He seemed ashamed. It made her hurt inside. She hadn't thought how he had felt betraying everyone he knew and everything he had ever believed in just to make the world a better place to his loved ones. All the years he had been thought dead he had crawled in front of Karel and obeyed his every word.  
  
Perhaps there was a bigger picture behind the sleeper, sanglyph and the paintings. Something she hadn't seen before. The hidden truth behind all the lies. Something that Karel had been planning for who knows how long. That very thought caused the curtain fall before her eyes and once again she could see clearly. Karel's plan could be no less than world domination. The thought sent shivers down her spine. She had promised to help him in something that propably would end up destroying the human race. Even if she had known all this before hand she might have acted the same way. Karel shure didn't seem to be a man of his word. 


	5. In the Heart of the Forest

Disclaimer: none of the characters from Angel of darkness or any other tomb raiders belongs to me. Only the plot.  
  
Reviews: Ahh...I think today I finally stopped hating myself. Maybe I can do something...at least I think so. And don't worry...I'm plannin to wake Kurtis up in the story. I'm sorry about my mistakes. Hope that doesn't bother so much.  
  
In the heart of the Forest  
  
Lara wasn't shure how long they drove but the place was far away from Praque. She saw buildings passing by the car window and people walking on the streets living normal lives. Propably something that never again concerns me, she thought. A luxury she couldn't afford anymore. Kurtis's father steered the car to a small road leading into the woods. It was beginning to get dark. Darkness and woods was not a combination Lara liked very much. She rather preferred open ground and daylight. It was so hard to hit anything in the woods. The trees seemed to have something creeping in them at night. The way they wispered while they danced slowly in the wind.  
  
The car stopped suddenly and Lara looked out of a window. There was nothing else than trees, bushes and undergrowth around the car. Great. Just great. They propably would make her take a small walk in the woods. A walk that would somehow result in her death. But what Karel had meant saying he needed her to do something for him? Was that a promise that she would live a bit longer? Karel's assistant, the man whose name she didn't know, pointed the barrel of his gun to her head.  
  
"Walk", he said with a voica that could not have belonged to a human being. There was nothing human in it. Lara had always been good in reading between the lines and in that one and cold word she heard a threat. They didn't have anything to blackmail her to do what they wanted but if she didn't do what they wanted who knows what they might do after her death. The very first thought in her mind concidered Kurtis. They would switch of the ventilation machine and end his life. If she didn't do this to save her own life or make it at least a bit longer she would do it for him because more than anything she longed to see his eyes, to drown in their warmth and softness. She obeyed and began to walk.  
  
Lara, like no other person on earth, didn't like to be pointed with a gun. Cold sweat began to run down her cheeks. Just one shot, one loud bang would end it here and now. A part in her wanted it to end. The part that wanted nothing to do with Karel or the nephilim anymore. The part that wanted to go home and lock itself into her room with some fruit and a good, scientific book. The other part, the larger part wanted to see the world of the nephilim in ruins and last of their species dying with grins of agony on their face.   
  
There was no trail but Karel and his "friend" seemed to know where they were heading. It was really strange. They stopped every once and a while and then started to walk in different direction like they were getting directions in a voice not audible in human ear. Lara and Kurtis's father could here nothing else than the crickets. The atmosphere was at least eerie.   
  
She saw a small cabin. Its construction material was wood and the boards had been painted red. Nothing good could be said about the windows that had long ago been covered in something that seemed like mold. There was some kind of vine crawling up the walls of the small cottage. There was chimney of course, Lara thought. What would a cottage be without a chimney? And how could you keep a little house apparently without electricity warm without a chimney? You could but it would mean that you had to keep the door and the windows open or just die in carbon monoxide poisoning. The door was so swelled that one couldn't close without any supernatural powers and even if one happened to be able to close the door Lara bet that there was no way opening it after that.. The cottage itself seemed uninhabited which didn't surprise Lara very much.  
  
When they stepped nearer the cottage something opened the door. Lara would've said that it was the wind but in this case she didn't believe so. She knew that Lux Veritatis could use their minds to open doors like Kurtis had done in the Louvre. She glanced at Kurtis's father but he turned his eyes away. that was enough to convince her. Karel's noose around the man's neck was indeed tight. 


	6. Beyond the Trapdoor

disclaimer: To those who don't believe me yet the characters in any of the Tomb Raiders belong to me. Only the plot.  
  
Beyond the trapdoor  
  
There seemed to be more to that cottage that it seemed outside. It wasn't very spacious but it wasn't supposed to be. It was just for keeping up the facades. Karel gave his assistant some sort of a siqnal and he removed the old carpet on the floor revealing a trapdoor. It seemed though that the cottage had been here before the trapdoor was made or at least had existed before it. Karel's assistant whose name Lara still didn't know opened it. Lara and Kurtis's father had to go first. Then came the assistant and last of all Karel.   
  
Lara found herself and rest of their little group standing in a cave that must have been there before the cottage and the trapdoor. There was no telling how she knew it. It just came naturally like riding a bike after a break that had lasted many years. She was fascinated. Everything old and valuable had always made her interested and despite of the situation this time was no different. She was brought back to reality by Karel's assistant's voice.  
  
"Move!", he said.  
  
He sure wasn't very loud person. It was the second time Lara had heard him talk and she could sense certain frustration in his voice like he wanted this to be over as fast as possible .Lara started walking rather hesitantly not knowing what waited her in the end of the cave. At least there was light that caused her eyes hurt after the walk through darkness where the only quide had been the barrel of the gun pointed at her.  
  
She couldn't believe what she saw. The cave grew larger and she could see it was man made, or at least hand made. It was a hall and there were buildings, temples and palaces. A city. The archeologist in Lara woke up. For a little while everything else in her mind disappeared. Only the want to search the buildings to find new artefacts to her already large collection seemed to take her over. And for that moment she could just stare like trying to fill her heart with the beauty of the site. No Karel and definately no nephilim existed there. It was just Lara and this yet undiscovered treasure. A small smile sneaked on Karel's face when he saw her expression. He had been right. There was no greater love to her than tomb raiding. Just what he needed her for. He nodded to his assistant who took his weapon. Lara had no time to react. Before she could realize something was happening everything went black.  
  
She woke up with a terrible headache. She was laying on something cold and hard. Lara opened her eyes but they were not yet adjusted to light so she had to close them again. When she opened them again everything she saw was a little blurry. Moving her head made it just ache harder so she thought it woulb be better just to rest for a while. Just when she was closing her eyes s distant cry reached her ears. She didn't move because it was too painful. Instead she laid there and listened. Another scream. Then some hardly audible words. Sounded like somone was angry.  
  
"This...ho..repay...e...or...ving..ur...ife?"  
  
Lara couldn't hear what they were saying. Just some bits and peaces like someone watching television and pressing the channel button to make the sound crack. She couldn't make out to whom the voice belonged to. Someone moaned. A soft smacking voice could also be heard. Then someone moaned, again.  
  
"Ple..e"  
  
That Lara could make out. They were torturing someone. She raised her head and didn't care how much it hurted. In her mind there was only one person that could be there groweling in front of the torturer or torturers. But there was nothing she could do. They had locked her up in some room which seemed to be very high and the door seemed to be closed. Propably locked. Just her luck. Get into something like this because of her stupid crush on someone who laid in a hospital. In coma. Lara cursed Kurtis, his father, all the nephilim that might've made it to this very day but most of all she cursed Karel and his plans. Wait...if the room was all sealed up how could she hear their talk? She found an answer near the ceiling. There were windows there. Some kind of ancient air-conditioning. She didn't know what they were for but they made it possible for her to hear how someone yelled again in pain. 


	7. Inmates

Disclaimer: None of the characters of Tomb Raider is mine. Only the plot!  
  
If you read please review. It would be nice to know if the story is still worth of reading. Thanks for all those who have already reviewed.  
  
Inmates  
  
She must have fallen asleep. Slowly she opened her eyes and found out that she was surrounded by darkness and no light could be seen. At least the voices had grown silent. Her head wasn't so sore anymore and she got up and just stood there giving her eyes enough time to adjust to the darkness. It took a while but soon she could make out that she was still in the same room. She could see a bed that seemed to be the only peace of furniture in the room. Slowly she walked to the door. Locked. Had the entire world turned against her in the last few days?  
  
There seemed to be no way out of the room. None. She couldn't reach the windows and for the first time in her life she felt like a loser. Karel had all the strings now and he could pull them the way he wanted and she had now other choice than to obey. Lara shure wasn't willing to obey any man. She had done great this far without the opposite sex. Shure there had been times she had wanted company. Someone to talk to and someone who would comfort her when her world turned upside down. She had been quite cerain that there was no man that could match her requirements. Then she had met Kurtis.   
  
"I'm...sor..ry"  
  
She heard someone she thought was in the next room say. Then that someone started crying. Not very loud but still so loud that Lara could hear him .It was a him she was shure. She walked closer to the wall and pressed her ear against it. The voice indeed came from the room next to hers. Or should she say cell next to hers.  
  
"I...I didn't mean to"  
  
Seemed that he was talking to himself or then he had lost it and thought there was someone with him. Something made her feel sorry for this total stranger.  
  
"Excuse me", she said.  
  
Utter silence seemed to claim the man in the next cell and then she heard him moving. Was he coming closer to the wall between them? He started to cry again.  
  
"Are you all right?", she asked. What a stupid question was that she, thought to herself. When someone was crying it was quite obvious that the person wasn't all right.  
  
Still no answer. Lara sighed and dropped her arms from the wall. Seemed like she was achieving nothing with this. To her surprise she felt good. It warmed her inside that she knew she wasn't the only one in this city or the ruins of one. Had Karel taken more hostages that her? Who else would he need? Then a thought crossed her mind. Could it be? Maybe all those years Karel had held Kurtis' father as a slave against his will the poor man had slept in that room. Like a prison sentenced for life.  
  
"What happened to you?", she asked trying to make contact with the person in the next cell. "How did he caught you?"  
  
Lara hoped she was right about the other prisoners identity because she desperately needed answers to all the questions that had formed in her mind during her kidnapping. If she wasn't right she could at least try to lessen the weight on that poor man's shoulders and make his concience a little bit cleaner. No answer. She had almost given up hope when the man finally spoke.  
  
"He never wanted any of this", the man kept a small pause. "It's all my fault. Everything. Every single bit of it"  
  
"Who?", Lara asked in a peaceful voice. Startling this man wouldn't help her.  
  
"I could see it in his eyes. The frustration but what could I have done? It was in his blood?"  
  
What was in whose blood? A disease maybe? Or some supernatural power...like Kurtis's. She remembered clearly how he had opened the doors in the Louvre without touching the handle. Throwing them open with his mind.  
  
"Too long...too long", the man said and started crying once more.  
  
Lara began to feel that she was a stranger in this conversation. The man was speaking to himself . He must've been here a long time. It was horrible what isolation from the world could do to human being. Lara was shure that the man was a human. He seemed to have developed a world of his own inside his head. A place where he could keep a contact with those who had once mattered to him. The ones who he had loved more than life itself.  
  
"Can you forgive me? Can you ever forgive me?"  
  
He sounded desperate begging forgiveness from someone who only excisted to him. People always said that if one speaks to himself one is crazy. Lara started to see that from a different angle. It could also be a blessing as well as a curse. In a desperate moment it could make one feel better. The man in the next cell had started to repeat "I'm sorry". Maybe the one he was talking to had died because of him. She herself had felt her father's precence even though he had died. Maybe there was only a thin veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead so the dead could watch and perhaps even quide the ones who had stayed behind. It was a rather comforting thought. Thinking there was indeed something after death made the parting from this world easier. Maybe the dead just left their bodies behind while their spiritual essence traveled trough the tunnel into the bright light that was salvation or whatever waited on the other side. 


	8. Wakey, wakey! Rise and shine!

Disclaimer: Lara and Kurtis aren't mine. Neither are Karel and Konstantin.  
  
If read please review  
  
Wakey, wakey! Rise and Shine!  
  
The hospital was still under chaos. The kind of destruction that Karel had caused wasn't easily fixed. And that wasn't all. After the little "incident" no one really wanted to work there or had at least asked for a holiday. Usually the asked holiday was forever but the hospital couldn't afford to lose all of its staff. To some that incident hadn't mattered. The lucky ones that didn't acknowledge that it had happened. One of them, mr.Trent, had been in coma at the time. Slowly his eyes began to open and then he closed his eyelids again like the light was an enemy that should've been avoided.  
  
One of the few nurses that hadn't been working that day when Karel had marched in and done what ever pleased him walked into Kurtis's room. Karel's little visit had resulted in the deaths of some patients that might have recovered from their wounds but Kurtis hadn't been one of them. He had been saved by Lara. The nurse was the same one who had talked with Lara first after she had brought Kurtis in. Her eyes were filled with sympathy when she looked at mr.Trent. Then she suddenly saw him open his eyes for a little while. She moved closer to his bed.  
  
"Mr.Trent", she started with a voice hardly audible. "How do you feel?"  
  
Kurtis looked at the nurse who seemed to be one large skin-coloured spot in his sight. He tried to say something but it seemed like his lips refused to obey him. Neither did his body at first but soon he was able to nod. His eyes were searching the room. Hospital.  
  
"You're in hospital, mr.Trent", the nurse continued. "Do you remember what happened?"  
  
Hospital. Kurtis had been in hospital so many times that it didn't bother him anymore. He had been shot, stabbed and beaten and who knows what else. In his eyes all the hospitals had started to look like the same one. Same whiteness and brightness. Same scent. It made Kurtis think swimming pools. He tried to look at the nurse again. She apparently was trying to say something to him.  
  
"Do you?"  
  
Did I what, Kurtis thought. Maybe the nurse noticed the fatigue in his eyes and repeated the question. Remembered what of what? He felt puzzled and kept staring the nurse with his brown eyes. He remembered Lara asking him something through the cloud of pain and agony. What she asked he couldn't remember anymore. What he remembered clearest was the slightly panicked look in her eyes and the tone of her voice.  
  
"L-lara", he said quietly. Even saying that simple word made him hurt.   
  
"You mean ms.Croft? The woman who brought you here?"  
  
Kurtis realized that he didn't have the slightest idea who had brought him there but he nodded all the same. Maybe Lara had brought him because she was the last thing he could remember.  
  
"She gave me a letter. I was ordered to give it to you if she wasn't here when you wake up", the nurse said in a calm voice.  
  
A letter. A letter. A simple letter was a poor substitute compared to her precence. He rembered how her precence felt. She wasn't someone that one could leave unnoticed even in a larger group. Perhaps it was her spirit that seemd so vital to him.  
  
"A letter?", he asked with a silent voice.  
  
"Do you want me to read it to you?"  
  
Kurtis only nodded because talking hurt so much. The nurse smiled. The smile though wasn't friendly or even sweet. It was a nurse's smile. They got paid for it. She left the room. Propably she went to get the letter, Kurtis thought. Where could Lara have gone? He had thought that she cared for him, even a little bit. That she would want to know wether he lived or not. Maybe he had been wrong all a long. Maybe it had been just business like she had said. The nurse came back with an envelope. Kurtis saw that it hadn't been opened yet but it was easy to read other people's mail. He had done it sometimes. If you were good enough to forge signatures or ones handwriting you could really do anything and not get caught. The nurse took a chair and draw it closer to his bed. Carefully she opened the envelope and took a letter coloured vanilla out of it.   
  
"Kurtis", she began. What a great beginning for a letter, he thought. She was British. Had she just forgotten to write "dear"? This, on the other hand, fit well in the concept of her not liking him.  
  
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you woke up"  
  
So she's sorry. That doesn't make it up yet.  
  
"I really wanted to and in the case I couldn't I ordered the nurse to give you this letter"  
  
And how could he possibly read it in his state?  
  
"My intention was to visit you every day so I rented a flat just accross the road"  
  
Then he noticed it. Something had been troubling him from almost the very moment he woke up. It was strangely quiet. He had gotten used to the racket in hospital but now not a single voice except the nurse's could be heard.  
  
"Wh-hat hap-pene-ed?", he asked with a shaking voice and saw it in her eyes that she had prepared herself for this question.  
  
"Two days ago...", he noticed that it was a difficult topic for her to discuss of. "A small group of men attacked here. I wasn't on duty so I don't know the details. They were like madmen. Many of the patients were lost and people who were visiting their friends and familymembers got hurt"  
  
This wasn't something he had expected to hear. He had thought the nurse would tell that it wasn't the right season or something but nothing like this. It made a spark lit in his eyes.  
  
"L-lara?"  
  
"I don't know if she was here that day", the nurse replied. "You want me to go on?" Kurtis only nodded.  
  
"If I'm not here I have either travelled back to Great Britain not knowing how long you were planning to sleep or" , the nurse stopped reading and looked at Kurtis.   
  
"Sleep?", he asked simply.  
  
"There's something you should know. You were brought to this hospital over a week ago. To be exact eleven days. You've been in coma ever since"  
  
In coma? His eyes ventured to his hand and he saw the tubes exciting his left hand. Eleven days? It was hard to believe he had slept eleven days, lived eleven days without remembering any of it. It felt like it was only couple of hours ago that he had been bleeding to death. But on the other hand it felt like it hadn't even been a part of this life. It was something that had happened to someone else.  
  
"The l-letter?"  
  
"Oh", the nurse said and giggled a little. "I have rented the flat for two months. After that I have to head home"  
  
Two months? It had been only eleven days and that was nowhere near two months. What had happened to her?  
  
"If something has happened to me and I'm not able to be there when you wake up there's something you should know. I send your belongings to England. Winston knows who you are", then the nurse put the letter back into the envelope. "That's all there is"  
  
Kurtis felt uncomfortable. What had caused her abcence? In the letter she had said two months. Had she grown bored because he didn't wake up? He didn't think so. There was something else here. Something very threatening and he had to find out what it was. 


	9. Request

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the chars that appear in the game Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness nor any other tomb raider characters.  
  
Reviewers: Thanks. =) =) =) =)   
  
Tell me if this one is any good....  
  
"Request"  
  
Lara hadn't seen Karel or heard of him since they got to the underground city. She had to admit to herself that she wasn't quite shure jow long she had been here. It was really difficult to know what the time was because there were no windows to the outside world. There still was some light and that really surprised her. Where did it come from?   
  
The man in the next cell had been quiet for a long time and she had began to wonder wether he was still alive. Maybe he had been taken away again but how would that be possible. She would've heard something. Unless the man was so used to it. Like the dogs of Pavlov. Beaten up so many times that he knew when to shut up or better said when to open his mouth. Lara had only heard him talking once. It had been the night a little while ago and sounded like he had lost it long before Lara had the joy hearing him.  
  
Suddenly the door opened and Karel's little helper stood there. Great. Where had all the good manners gone? Wasn't it polite to knock? Something told Lara that these creatures didn't know about manners.   
  
"Come", said the man in a very frustrated voice. He shure knew how to use words efficietly. At least he didn't use them in vain. Lara didn't say anything. She straightened up and walked through the door not looking at the man. As soon as she had gone through she felt the familiar barrel of a gun pointed at her back. They walked through the ruins. Every step was hard to Lara who wanted nothing more than to examine the long deserted buildings of the city. She had never seen architecture quite like this and she had seen a lot.  
  
They seemed to be heading towards a small building. It was absolutely no palace but it was one of the only buildings that stood up. Something had been unleashed in this place for the buildings didn't seem to be so old. Besides they were made of stone. Like pyramids of Egypt but it seemed that they were crafted from the very rock like someone had just decided to dig this cave and hall with all of its buildings. It was an idea she didn't like a single bit because it could not have been made by human hand. Maybe it had been one of the places were the nephilim and Lux Veritatis had faced each other and there was no telling wich side had won.  
  
The building they entered had only one room in it. The walls had suffered from serious burnings and in certain places it looked like the stone had began to melt. It was difficult for her to think something as hot as that. Lava perhaps but then the whole house would've been destroyed. She had a nasty feeling about this. Inside were Karel and some other men she didn't know. Karel wore a vivious grin on his pale lips and something that seemed to mock her being a human twinkled in his eyes. The other men didn't look at her. And then there was Kurtis's father. He stood in one corner of the house lookinh at floor like someone who hadn't been invited to the party. She heard none of them speaking but it seemed that they were discussing together. Except of course Kurtis's father.  
  
He glanced at her every once and a while with apologising look in his eyes. The man really seemed not to enjoy his own company..  
  
Karel's assistant seemed to join in their conversation while Karel himself kept staring right into her eyes with his own soulless ones. Something rather old anger towards the man kind seemed to be boiling in the depths of those pale blue orbs.  
  
"Glad you were able to join us", Karel said and every other person in the room looked at her even Kurtis's father. "Well Konstantin...it's rude not to say hello while there's a lady in the room". Nothing happened for a while. Then Konstantin mumbled something that sounded like "hello", but Lara couldn't be shure. Konstantin was a name quite out of the ordinary Johns and Michaels.  
  
"It is business that caused us all to come here", Karel continued and all the other strange men nodded. "Except for ms.Croft here who really didn't have a choice". He had that look in his eyes again and only thing it told Lara was that there was more to come.   
  
"This here town", Karel started. "Was one of the cities of the nephilim" So Lara had been right but she remembered reading that the nephilim were based in Turkey. Perhaps they were like cancer spreading everywhere in ones body. Maybe this town or city was a metastasis of a cancer based in Turkey. "In the days of glory of our species this city was filled with life but everything ended that day when they found out" Lara noticed that he was staring at Konstantin. "Humans are feeble creatures", Karel continued. "Filled with feelings that have not a bit of rationality in them. They're weak-willed beigs without understanding of anything greater than them" Then he looked back at Lara. "That's the way it should've stayed for eternity!"  
  
Lara felt puzzled. She hadn't really thought what part Karel played in all this and what were his motives.  
  
"As well as weak-minded they believe in themselves too much. How could they possibly have thought that the nephilim were only based in Turkey? It's because they believe life is simple", Karel stopped for a while and stood still. "They always believe the most reasonable answer is the correct one!"  
  
His tone didn't sound good in Lara's ears.  
  
"But all the nephilim didn't die after all. The sleeper was only one of us and not really important", Karel stormed.  
  
"But what about Eckhardt?", Asked Lara. When she saw how Karel looked at her she knew she shoul've kept her mouth shut. Sometimes it really was too big.  
  
"He was a fool!"  
  
Perhaps something in Lara's eyes made Karel continue. "And his death benefitted us all"  
  
Lara couldn't believe she was hearing this. Not important? Had that also been a part of some greater scene? Getting rid of Eckhardt didn't sound very reasonable to her.  
  
"Miss.Croft here must be wondering why she is here", Karel said to his companions. "Maybe we should lighten it a bit* then Karel turned to stare her again with his eyes that showed no emotions whatsoever. "Of course it would be boring if we nephilim inhabited this planet all alone and now we come to my little test subject" A siqn of some sort was given and one of the men brought Konstantin to Karel. For a moment she thought she saw sympathy in his eyes but it was something else that lurked in their depths. "It took surprisingly little to break this creature's mind. Bring in the other specimen!", Karel yelled.  
  
Two men Lara hadn't seen before walked in with a white faced woman who didn't seem to realize where she was. Lara guessed that she had once been beautiful but now all she could see was a ghost. When she glanced Konstantin a terrible thought crawled up her spine. This woman had once mattered more than anything to him and his eyes told she still did. The two orbs in his face that had seemed dead to her suddenly sprang to life and she could see all the pain gathered in them along the years passed. She although didn't see him and Lara thought that her mind was no more linked in to this world. It had ventured beyond the limits of her body long time ago. Somehow she reminded her of Kurtis laying on the hospital bed his face all white.  
  
"And I enjoyed it, every second. Seeing him grovel. The once so mighty man had become like a slug"  
  
Lara hadn't really listened Karel for a while but his last sentence had brought her back and made her boil inside. He was a monster without human feelings.  
  
"And now to your part Ms.Croft. There's a little place I would like you to visit"  
  
"And how come you won't go yourself?", she asked with a voice that seemed to pull all the wrong strings.  
  
"Silent! Even though we are "immortal" there are some things we don't like to do and places we don't want to go to. One of these is a little cave called "the Halls of Doom. So you'll be doing it for us"  
  
She hadn't heard of the place before. The name although didn't sound good and if some creature like nephilim didn't want to go there was something evil there. 


	10. Escape

Disclaimer: Lara, Kurtis, Karel, Konstantin and Winston are so not mine.  
  
Escape  
  
Lara didn't come the next day either and no matter what the nurses said they couldn't make Kurtis feel any better about it. Something was terribly wrong and he knew it. Laying in the hospital bed made him feel himself so helpless and vain. He had to do something. Who knows what kind of mess Lara had managed to get involved to.  
  
Each minute of the day was tearing Kurtis mentally apart and it seemed to him that the night would never come. Yes...it would be easier at night. He didn't have his chirugai so he had to think of something different for distracting the nurses and whoever would be patrolling at night. He had thought about escape the whole day but he wasn't shure if he was up to it. Twelve days wasn't so long time concidering his wounds but it would have to do.  
  
The night came slowly and the hospital grew silent. He knew that only a couple of nurses were working at night and he could use his farsee ability to find the way out. Slowly he pulled the tubes out of his hand grimacing a little at the same time. He had never thought anything bad about hospital but why oh why they had to stick all kinds of needles and tubes into human beings. Of course he knew the answer but he thought it disqusting all the same.   
  
He sat on his bed looking at his legs. Never before had he hoped for something so much than he hoped now that his legs wouldn't fail him. He stared for a moment at the door. Did he have enough strenght to get even to that door? He didn't feel well, not at all, and even though he had spent last eleven days in a very deep dream state he had never felt as tired as he felt now. How gladly he would've stayed there and slept. Just lay down and close his eyes. His mind didn't let him to do that. It had to argue against his body and though Kurtis was tired his mind won the argument. There was a life at stake. A life that actually ment more to him that he had thought it would when he had layed his eyes on her for the first time in a little Parisian cafe.  
  
Slowly he got on his feet but had to sit down quickly because of the terrible pain in his stomach. How would he be able to do this? Again his mind had to argue with his body and miraculously it won the second time. He stood up again not minding the pain but he couldn't just put it aside. It drew a terrible glimpse of pain and agony to flash in his eyes. There he dtood. In the middle of the dark room. He could see dim light in the corridor outside his room. Walking seemed to be more painful that standing and he had to lean on the wall from time to time. It was harder that he had expected and it seemed that the door of his room didn't come any closer like there was some supernatural force and its only meaning was to keep him from leaving.   
  
Finally he reached the door and then he felt something warm and wet seeping through his pyjamas. He looked down. Blood. Could've thought that the stiches would do at least something to keep his wounds from bleeding. It had been almost two weeks now. The bleeding didn't seem to be very bad though. Maybe just one stich, he thought and looked down the corridor. No one could be seen. Only thing that told there were still life in the hospital was the faint snoring coming from the room next to his.  
  
He took a step into the corridor still leaning against the wall. He had never felt this terrible in his entire life. At least not physically. Mentally perhaps. His mind wandered back to his fathers funeral. The ceremony had been beautiful and many people had told what Konstantin had meant to them. He could still remember the hot tears burning in his eyes as one of Konstantin's closest friends had taken the stage. He himself hadn't said a word. His father had never been close to him but loosing him hurt Kurtis in a way he had not thought possible. He shook his head silently. It was all gone now and how much he wanted to see his father again even for a small moment and say to him all the things he had failed to mention while his father was still alive was impossible.   
  
He shouldn't be thinking anything like that at the moment. Only thing that he should think was how to get out of this building without alarming the whole hospital. He started to follow the corridor leaning to he wall. He couldn't see quite well. It was all a blurr, a mix of different colours, and the only solid object was the wall. It was his guideline.  
  
He had to stop and rest for a while. Then he heard low voices discussing in some of the nearby rooms. He couldn't hear them propelly so he kept on going. It seemed like he was coming to the lobby of this floor and he could see the elevators. Bad thing was there was a nurse sitting by a desk and doing some paper work. That idea could be ruled out. The pain in his stomach blurred his sight and he had to lean against the wall so he wouldn't fall over. No elevator. Nice. He needed to find stairs and he had no idea where they were located.  
  
He stood in the dark corridor. He wasn't shure if he could "farsee" in his condition but it seemed like his only hope. He concentrated and let his mind leave his body. It floated through the corridors and passed the closed doors. It took a long time to find the stairs but he finally did and there didn't seem to be any nurses on the way. His mind returned to his body and he almost fell down. Slowly he began his journey towards the stairs and hoped no nurse would think of patrolling at this late hour.  
  
He was quite near already when he heard footsteps approaching. Not now. He thought hard for a second and it seemed that his only choice was to run to the door that led to the stairs and roll them down. It didn't sound very healthy but it was right now the only chance he got.   
  
He sprinted towards the door feeling the terrible pain in his stomach at the same time. His legs were failing and the someone who had walked in the corridor had obviously heard him. Only few metres anymore. He never made them because he fell over. No sound left his lips even though the pain was horrible. It felt the same than when Boaz had struck him down. The footsteps came nearer but the person wasn't running. He or she was approaching like doom. He felt it coming nearer as he always could.  
  
He started to crawl hoping that his wounds wouldn't bleed so badly that anyone who was behind him could follow him. He saw the door and then the stairs. And he pushed himself down them... 


	11. In the Deep of the Night

Disclaimer: None of the characters in Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness are mine  
  
Warning: changes in the "narrator" of the story.  
  
Why thank you for reviewing. Hope you still enjoy it.  
  
In the Deep of the Night  
  
Lara sat in her cell thiinking about Karel's words. She wasn't able to sleep because the thought of going somewhere where even nephilim creatures didn't dare to go scared and thrilled her at the same time. She was a tomb raider and had the feeling that in the halls of doom laid something that wasn't meant for human eye to see. Not to meant for mortal eye to see. That was the difference between nephilim and human beings. It was a simple question of death and immortality. Lara had brilliant imagination. At least her father had said that and she had grown into the idea that it indeed was something special.  
  
There weren't many things she remembered about her parents because they had died when she was still a child. One thing she could remember was her father's smile and his gentle eyes. She was propably the only person besides her mother that had known her father as a human being, as the man he was. Others had known him by his reputation.   
  
She was totally lost in her thoughts but a voice from the next cell snapped her out of it. The man was speaking again and even if he spoke very silently she could still hear every word he said. She recognized his voice. It truly belonged to Konstantin who Lara at least believed to be Kurtis's father. Konstantin sobbed a little and somehow Lara felt that his sorrow would suffocate her if she didn't do something.  
  
She walked next to the wall and touched its cold surface with her palm. For a while she didn't do anything. She just held her hand there and listened the poor man crying out his broken heart. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to find the right words.  
  
"I've seen him", she finally said with a voice little louder than a whisper. Someone moved on the other side of the wall and then the silence fell. It lasted for many minutes but it felt like hours to Lara. The man didn't sob anymore. Did her precence made him calmer? Did it help him to find something inside him that he believed lost? It was propably the first human contact for years. Last night didn't count.  
  
The man mumbled something and then Lara heard him cry again. It seemed to her he was crying out all the unfairness of life and the burden on his shoulders. It started to seem hopeless to create any kind of contact with this man. What had Karel done to him and who was the pale faced woman that brought life and love back into his eyes. Lara of course had her doubts about the matter. She let her hand fall and went to sit on her bed.  
  
"I don't remember his smile", he suddenly said and Lara moved back to the wall. "Nor the softness in his eyes".  
  
He seemed to breaking in peaces but that wasn't anything new. He had acted the same way last night but this time he sounded like he was talking to her and not to the invisible person in his mind. He sounded like he really was present.  
  
"Why?", she asked in a soft voice and felt something burning in her eyes. Suddenly a drop of warm liquid ran down her cheek. She did nothing to stop it. Just a thought about her not being able to remember and caress her parents felt awful. What kind of parent didn't remember his child? What kind of parent didn't remember the most important things in his child and if he didn't what was the picture that he combined to his son in his mind? Lara could only think of the pale woman. She had no glow in her eyes and to Lara it seemed that she had died inside long time ago. Something that was so essentiel in her wasn't present anymore like she was in coma but managed still to walk. She also remembered how the woman had stared through Konstantin like she was looking something only she could see. Seeing a place only visible to her. The womans eyes hadn't been able to focus in anything. Lara remembered thinking that the curtain had fallen down on the pale woman. All the lights had been turned off but someone had been unable to mention it to her.  
  
"I never...saw him as a son. I mean in the way every father should", Konstantin said in empty voice but Lara didn't know he was trying to hide the bitterness in his tone. For a moment his eyes burst into flames and he could be identified as the man his friends had come to send to his last journey. Karel hadn't been able to beat him down, to make his spirit leave his body like the nephilim creature had done to the woman sitting opposite him. Her eyes showed no siqn of life. There were nothing left of what Konstantin had once loved. For years he had thought that she had left him. One night when Kurtis was only a couple years old she had dissapeared. That was the last time Konstantin had ever seen his wife for the creature that shared his cell was only the core. All that was inside had been taken. All the beauty in her soul had been ravaged.  
  
His words made Lara's mind to go back to the only moment when Kurtis had told her about his father. She had heard the difference in his tone of voice and could almost imagine how his eyes turned cold and distant. Although what she had just heard she couldn't make herself believe that Kurtis hated his father. There was something in the soul of the young man that had vanished when he had heard about his father. At least Lara believed so.  
  
"What was it you saw in him?", she asked trying not to sound like a judge. It was hard for her to believe that one could totally iqnore one's children. That kind of thinking didn't exist in her world. She had heard of people who bet their children and she thought it was horrible. Then how would it feel if one's father or mother couldn't love one in the way every child should be loved? It would make them cold inside, she thought, not feelingless but cold. Unwanted.  
  
"The continuation of the order", Konstantin didn't fully agree with the words that escaped his lips. They weren't entirely true. there had been times he had look upon his sons face and seen the light that shone in them, the blind faith that most of the children felt for their parents. He couldn't remember the look onhis sons face anymore because in his mind he had lost the hero status before people's eyes. Mostly before the eyes of his own son. He had seen it fading every time after the daily practise they had gone through. Kurtis had lost his faith in his father and for Konstantin it had been the brick wall in which everyone hits during their lives.  
  
Lara closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her cheeks. The continuation of the order? Had Konstantin ever thought that Kurtis was a human being? She had seen what less negligence could do to human beings and most of them she had personally met. Total loss of self-confidence. She hadn't seen it in Kurtis. For him there was still a reason to fight. Lara was going to say something nasty to Konstantin but then began to think it from his poin of view. Maybe the Lux Veritatis had been a dying order then and had needed new recruits...but it didn't give Konstantin any reason to neglect his son or better said push his son out of his world.  
  
"I realised it when I went to his room one morning. He was about nineteen at the time and all I could find was an empty bed that was still worm. If I had been little earlier..." Then he started crying again and Lara could feel him releasing the thin grip he had had to this world. He spoke alone again. 


	12. Through the Glass

Disclaimer: Lara, Kurtis, Konstantin, Karel and Winston don't belong to me. Only Kurtis's mother is mine and only in the way she excists in this story. Oh...and the plot is mine also.  
  
Sorry about my action parts. I have never written anything like this before.  
  
Through the Glass  
  
Gladly he didn't loose his conciousness although sliding down the stairs with his stomach wasn't very painless experience. Every step had hurt more than the last one and Kurtis had never thought there would be so many of them. At least it had felt like there were hundreds and the sliding would never end. Slowly he raised his head which hurt now. Before the slide it had been only his stomach that had hurted and of course the place in his hand they had sticked the tubes in had been a bit sore. Now the pain in his head had joined them.  
  
He knew he didn't have time to linger because it was matter of minutes or seconds when they would find him. When the one who heard him would find him. In his mind he could all ready picture the sight of someone running down the stairs and screaming help at the same time. If he didn't move soon that was what was going to happen.  
  
He wasn't sure in which floor he was in but there appeared to be no more stairs that lead in a lower storey. Then he saw a door and above it was a green light which would show a nearest exit during a fire. He tried to stand up but couldn't. It seemed like his legs refused to obey him, like they wouldn't want to receive any more damage. A silent sigh escaped his lips when he began to crawl towards the door that was his only way out of this place.  
  
The distance between him and the door was only a few metres but to him it seemed like kilometres and the more he crawled the more unreachable the door became. Then he heard creaking but the door infront of him didn't open. Instead of it the door in the upper floor had opened. Then he heard silent voices. They were almost whispers but somehow he got the feeling that the ones doing the talking wanted him to hear.  
  
"Are you sure you heard someone?", asked a very tired voice.  
  
"Positive. I heard someone fall. One can not be mistaken of a racket like that", esclamed a voice that sounded panicked in Kurtis's ears.  
  
"But...there's no one here. Maybe you just ima..*  
  
Then an odd silence fell. What Kurtis couldn't hear or see explaned it. The nurse who had been speaking had noticed the little marks of blood on the floor.  
  
"Have you checked there?"  
  
"I was going to", said the panicked voice.  
  
This was his shot and if he blew it he wouldn't get any others. The nurses propably would tie him on his bed so he wouldn't escape his room again. He forced himself to stand up and with the help of the wall he managed to reach the door. That moment he could've swared that luck was on his side. The door did make any sound and with great difficulties he was able to go through it.  
  
Another corridor...great. He didn't have time to find out where he was because he heard someone coming down the stairs. Then there was a scream for help and words that were so silent that Kurtis could only here mumbling. The nurses knew where he had gone because there was only one way out of that room. Shit. Time was what he needed now and it was also the only thing he couldn't get. He started to walk through the corridor leaning to the wall. Grimace had taken over his normally so calm face and he didn't know how much longer he could keep on going. In that moment he heard the door to the stairway creack open.  
  
The nurse who stormed through the door had to face an empty corridor. There was no siqn that someone had gone that way. At least no other siqns that bloody handprints on walls. They stopped suddenly like the missing patient had found a way to turn himself or herself invisible.   
  
Instead of turning invisible Kurtis had rushed through the next door and found himself now in a room full of patients who were asleep. None of them seemed to be severely wounded so he had to proceed quietly so he wouldn't wake anyone up. It sounded easier than it was. He got to the window and to his relief saw that he was in first floor. His relief though was short-lived because a man had woken up and as soon as he saw Kurtis by the window he panicked. Kurtis raised his hands as tho show he carried no weapons but it didn't calm the man down. Then Kurtis saw it. There was a button that was used to call nurses if there was something wrong in the man's hand and he was pushing it. At the same instant the door flew open and Kurtis saw someone dressed in white clothes step through. A nurse. He didn't have time to concider his next action much. He took couple steps towards the nurse who stood there with a flahlight pointed to his face. The light was almost blinding.  
  
On the spur of the moment he turned around facing the window, closed his eyes and let his legs take few wobbling running steps before he bounced. Everything seemed to stop for a moment and he stepped outside himself to watch his own body smashing through the window. All he could hear was the sound of a a breaking glass and the clinking as the pieces fell on the floor. In the backround someone screamed. It didn't hurt him, not a single bit although the broken glass cut him from several places and it felt like the touchdown would never come.  
  
It did come and when it came his whole body ached. He felt something warm running down his cheek and touched it with his finger. Blood. Getting away seemed more like a childhood dream than something that could possibly happen but at least he was out of the hospital now. Discharged himself. He propably looked like some psycho who had just ran away from mental hospital and continued his favourite little hobby, dismembering people. None of this mattered to him at the moment for he heard someone yelling inside the building. Once more he collected all the strenght he had left and stood up. Across the street, eh? Across the street she had written and that was the best lead he had at the moment though she could be anywhere. 


	13. Raising the Veil

Disclaimer: None of the characters that have appeared in Tomb Raiders are mine.  
  
Raising the Veil  
  
Little after Konstantin had grown silent or better said started speaking to himself again Lara heard knocking form the door. It was a late hour for a meal so this had to concider something else. She backed against the wall and stayed there waiting who would open the door.  
  
For her amazement it was Karel. Just seeing him made her blood boil. All of this had happened because of him. If someone had mentioned Karel to her the first thing she would've remebered would've been his eyes. Those cold blue orbs that seemed almost lifeless. If there was even a single feeling in that man it surely couldn't be seen in his eyes. As soon as he looked at her she felt shivers travelling up her spine. Cold shivers like when looking at someone who had been close to you laying in a casket.  
  
Of course he had his little friend with him...and Konstantin who was looking at the ground like he was really ashamed of himself and afraid of being punished.  
  
"Move", said Karel's assistant. A man of few words he was. Lara thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that she really had no choice.She had thought of running away but the opportunity hadn't knocked yet and she couldn't get out thrugh the windows of her cell. Her only chance was trying then when she was out of her cell and even better, out of this whole town...if that was going to happen. She couldn't expect help from anyone's side. Karel and his little nephilim friends were full of themselves and Konstantin...Lara knew the answer when she looked into his eyes. There was no will to fight in them. Karel had taken it all.  
  
They walked through the town and to Karel's amazement Lara didn't even look at the buildings. Of course she was intriqued but she didn't want to give Karel the pleasure. She kept looking straight ahead not even minding the weapon pointed at her head. If Karel or his assistant would've been alone she coul've done something but now she was over powered.   
  
Apparently they were leaving the city because they headed to the same cave from which they had entered some days ago. Lara wasn't exactly sure because she hadn't seen the sun. That was the problem with underground places. There was no light if you didn't bring some yourself. Somehow they had managed to bring light in this place. Not the way Egyptians had done it using great mirrors. This was something else. It felt like the walls themselves were emitting the soft glow.  
  
Through the trapdoor they went again and there was the car waiting. Lara wondered how the nephilim had been able to keep this town as a secret. Lux Veritatis had thought their headquarters was in Turkey. The nephilim had Lux Veritatis fooled but how? And where had the rest of the nephiilim hid all these years? In this very city?  
  
"In", the assistant tolde her. In his eyes Lara saw something more human than in Karel's. Sure it was difficult to quess his age him being 'immortal' but he seemed younger than Karel...a lot younger. Maybe they hadn't taught him to speak propelly in this place. "In", he said again and this time Lara obeyed. The assistant didn't join them which really surprised her. Did Karel trust so much in Konstantin and the way he had tamed Kurtis's father's spirit? Did he trust her enough? Maybe Karel thought he had nothing to fear from them. Lara was in the same boat with him because of Kurtis and Konstantin...perhaps it had something to do with the pale woman.  
  
Konstantin sat on the driver's seat and started the car. Slowly he backed the car and turned it around. He drove slowly not looking into her eyes and Lara didn't know why. It seemed during the little time they had known each other that eyecontact had been only proper communicating way between them...and no it was gone too.  
  
"Now ms.Croft", Karel said and turned to look at her. "I wasn't able to show you the whole picture last time". A disgusting grin took over his lips and something demonic lurked in his eyes. Somehow he reminded Lara of her chemistry teacher back in school.  
  
"If you tried yo failed badly", she snapped and watched as a new look took over his face. A surprised look. He hadn't seen that one coming.   
  
"Insulting me won't help you ms.Croft. Don't you really want to know why I brought you here instead of leaving you to wait your little friend's awakening?"  
  
"That would be nice of you", Lara said politely though there was some sarcasm in her voice. Throught the mirror her eyes met with Konstantin's and she could see something gleaming in them. Was it hope?  
  
"Tell me ms.Croft...how familiar are you with Egyptian mythology?" 


	14. Walking on Snow

Disclaimer: No. I simply don't own any of the chars from any of the Tomb Raider games or movies.  
  
Walking on Snow  
  
Well...seemed that whoever lived in that house wasn't home or then they had hidden under the table. He could understand the reason perfectly well. If someone looking like him at the moment emerged on his doorstep he wouldn't open. Not in a million years. He felt fatigue kreeping up on him and had to resist the want just to lie down and let the sweetness of unconciousness hold him once again. He had to fight it. If not for him then for Lara. For a second the picture of the attractive brunet flashed before his eyes. Sure Kurtis had met many attractive women but none of them had been able to keep his interests up for long. There was something different in her. Though he didn't remember seeing her smile he could imagine how she would look when something made her happy. There was something inside her too. Such a strenght that he hadn't seen any of the women he had known possess. It made her shine. Not like people shine in old movies or angels are imagined to shine. She shone to him.  
  
Kurtis knocked again. Still no answer. Perhaps they had gone and called the police. Told them that some lunatic covered in blood stood on their porch face filled with agony and eyes dim and staring like he was high. His body resisted moving anywhere. Maybe it thought this was a good place to be. Standing here in a cool winter night trembling because of the cold. Then Kurtis realized it. He was still wearing hospital clothes and his shirt was red with blood from certain spots. His stomach wound hadn't suffered so much from sliding down the stairs as he thought it might. Slowly he raised his shirt a bit to see the bandages and the blood seeping through them. Magnificent.  
  
Slowly he turned and came down the few stairs leading to the porch. Next house then, right? There were a couple still as Kurtis had thought across the street meant the houses facing the main door of the hospital. He had made great progress or at least he thought so but he know his time was running out. It couldn't take much longer that someone came out looking for him. Someone who had just woken up from coma yesterday wasn't so hard to catch so he needed to hurry.  
  
There seemed to be no picket fence or anything he could lean against so he just had to walk. It was that simple. The distance wasn't so long and he had to give it a shot. Having hypothermia wouldn't help him much either so it would be better to do it quick and not come numb with cold. It wouldn't serve his purpose. He could all ready imagine the headlines of tomorrows newspapers: Just woken coma patient froze to death. He couldn't resist the little laughter that escaped his lips though there really was nothing hilarious in the situation.  
  
He began to walk slowly. His legs had grown goosebumps long time ago and now the coldness was attacking him inside. He could almost feel his heart freeze and its beating come irregular. He had to sit down for just a little while not longer than a blink of an eye. His legs were screaming with pain and almost begging their torture to be ended. He didn't feel the pain in his soles anymore even though dozens pieces of glass had bored to them because he had no shoes. The snow had made them numb and slowly he was beginning to feel some warmth in them and he knew he had to keep going. The numbness was like a beast or a flower that used its colours or some of its other attractive features to lure its prey in a trap.  
  
At least the pain couldn't get any worse than this he though limping towards the next house. He tried to warm himself up with his hands but it didn't do much. He began to forget he was even walking. The numb, warm feeling was starting to take him over releasing him from all of his pain and suffering and slowly the world and surviving started to loose their meaning. Only things that he felt was calmness and serenity. They were the keys to the garden of peace where no agony and pain held place. He saw the house getting larger and reached out to touch the banister and suddenly he felt it under his arm. It was only thing that kept him and his mind in this world. It was like bright light in all-covering darkness.  
  
He faced yeat another door and then he heard it. A group of people rushed through the main entrance of the hospital looking alert. They were searching him and if he lingered much longer they would find him. There was no doubt of that. His eyes searched the door and his hand reached towards it like a dying man reaches towards salvation. He knocked once, twice but no one opened. Then he saw someone looking at him from a window. He could se fear in the lady's eyes but there was something hidden in her gaze. Understanding? It seemed like an eternity that they stared at each other and Kurtis could feel his eyelids becoming heavier. The oblivion was calling for him and this time he didn't protest.   
  
He expected everything to go black but the blackness never came. Instead of it his eyes opened again and the woman who had stood in the window had dissapeared. He sighed. Was this the end of his escape? The people who had rushed out of the hospital must alrady have found his bloody footprints and they were easy to follow. Suddenly he heard someone opening the locks of the door in front of him and he backed a little. The same lady that had glanced at him from the window stood there now. She was smaller than he had expected but her age was hard to quess. It seemed like she was ageless. Someone who had been here from the beginning of times and would be here to the end of them. Her eyes were filled with sympathy and somehow Kurtis got the feeling that she understood...everything. If he hadn't believed in angels before this would be a good time to start.  
  
"Do you want me to call to the hospital?", the woman asked although in her heart she all ready knew the answer. In the heart that beat for every thing alive even for those who had a soul rotten to the core.  
  
Kurtis shook his had slightly not looking at the woman. At that moment he felt like he couldn't stand her gaze.  
  
"Then come in dear. You're freezing out here", she said calmly and her voice reminded Kurtis of someone's he had known decades ago.  
  
Kurtis had no problems in obeying her and quietly he stepped through the door. The woman followed him and closed the door. She stood still a while and then had him sit on the couch. He felt safe there in the company of the mysterious woman and though he didn't know it the footrprints in the snow had vanished like they had never existed. 


	15. Getting Rid of

Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine. I mean the characters of Tomb Raider games and movies.  
  
Getting Rid of  
  
The atmosphere in the car was heavy and Karel kept eyeing her. She felt disgusted and somewhat dirty. She didn't know why but Karel's eyes woke a guilty feeling in her. Was it something that lurked behind the coldness of his eyes? Somehow he managed making Lara feel herself compeletely worthless. Slightly ashamed she looked down and failed to see the grin spreading over Karel's face.   
  
Something else managed to steal her attention. She noticed that Konstantin had speeded up a bit and still was. She glanced at Karel's face to see how totally surprised he was. His petdog for a couple of years seemed to have a piece of his will left. Somehow he had managed to hide it from Karel. There obciously had been some place in Konstantin's mind that Karel hadn't been able to tinker with.  
  
"What are you doing?", Karel shouted. Slightly panicked look creeped in his eyes and stayed there a while. He no longer was in charge here.  
  
Konstantin acted like he couldn't hear Karel but deep down Lara knew he didn't want to. Her eyes wondered to Karel's seatbelt as she heard a soft click. They flew open when she saw that the nephilim's seatbelt had unlocked and then she checked her own. Locked. Good. Her mind had solved the mystery behind Konstantin's speeding. They had outwitted Karel's who apparently had no idea what was going on.  
  
The speedomeeter showed dangerously high numbers and Karel kept on shouting to Konstantin. How much it had taken from the poor man to stand up his slavemaster Lara didn't know but never had she been so grateful towards anyone.  
  
Karel drew a gun and pinted it at Konstantin. "I demand you to stop this vehicle!"  
  
"Your wish I shall obey", Konstantin said with a low voice before hitting the breaks down.  
  
It was a simple law of physics and it was called the slow mass. Karel's body couldn't adjust to the sudden slowing in speed and as Konstantin slowed down fast Karel's body crushed against the front glass and a terrible crash followed. There where normal human beings would've died Karel just lost his conciousness. Although he looked severely wounded Lara new in her heart that it wouldn't take many hours until he was walking again. They had to act quickly if they wanted to get far away as possible from Karel before he came around.  
  
Konstantin looked like he didn't fully comprehend what he had just done. His empty eyes stared at Karel's motionless body and he didn't wake up until Lara slapped him lightly. He looked almost as he had waken from a deep sleep that had lasted for a few years. A smile grew on his face and suddenly it seemed to Lara that he was fully alive again.  
  
"Have waited for that so long", he said sounding pleased with himself and for the first time Lara saw a soul behind his eyes.  
  
"As much as I 'd love to stay and chat we really should leave", she snapped .  
  
His smile grew wider and he pushed the pedal leaving Karel ad very unwanted part of his past behind him. 


	16. Peaceful Easy Feeling

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that have appeared in any of the tomb raider games or movies.  
  
I myself am really dissapointed in this chapter but can assure you that I try to make next one better.  
  
Peaceful Easy Feeling  
  
He had wandered in mist which fully blurred his vision and mind. Being there was not so bad. It was a place where he could feel none of the pain his injuries were causing him. It felt like floating in a boat on smooth as glass water. Small waves were lapping against the boat as it passed by slowly. He felt warmt caressing his face like the sun itself had come down from the sky to make him warm. It felt like it was summer, an afternoon, and there was no worries in the world. None that existed to him anyway.  
  
There was no way the real world could grap him and pull him back. In deep down he realised he had to head back but he didn't want to part with this feeling of serenity just yet. He knew he had to. The same way that day had to give way to the night. He knew there would be time he had to row to shore. Like everything beautiful this had to stop too.  
  
He laid motionless on the enigmatic lady's couch. A small smile had concuered her lips as she was removing the pieces of glass from his feet. her eyes were studying Kurtis's features and something flickered in them. Something ages old, deep and powerful. She watered a clean piece of cloth and cleansed the wounds caused by the glass pieces. He didn't seem to feel it like he hadn't felt anything after stepping through the door and she thought it to be good.  
  
He had been slightly feverish when he had come inside and walking in snow hadn't helped that much. She let her eyes look at him for a while. He still wore those hospital clothes but she had found some blankets that would make him warmer. He was beginning to come out of it.  
  
Kurtis's feeling of peace was pearced by a sudden feeling of pain and some unexplainable force ripped him away from his inconciousness. It was like a voice that roamed acroos the sky like thunder. It dropped no raindrops but but somehow he sill felt wet. His clothes were wet. Slowly his eyelids fluttered open and he could just and just see the lady sitting next to him and removing the glass shards from his legs. Miraculously it didn't hurt much or at least as much as he had thought it would. He slowly raised his head but his world started spinning around.  
  
"Lay back down dear", the lady said voice filled harmony. There was something soothing in her tone of voice and it made Kurtis lay back down.  
  
"How long...have...I been..here?", he asked not a single bit of anger in his voice. Something in this house made him feel totally calm.  
  
"Not long, dear. About three hours"  
  
Three hours? It had felt like an eternity he had sailed on that lake.  
  
"I've almost had all of the glass away", the lady said without looking at him.  
  
Glass? What glass and where? From where had the glass come from? In that moment Kurtis realized he really couldn't remember. Last thing he could was sliding down the stairs with his stomach and from there all was darkness. He didn't even remember how he had gotten to this house and who the lady was. There was something in the darkness he could remember though. Cold and shivering. Snowflakes falling from the sky. Everything else was dark.  
  
"L-Lara?", Kurtis asked forcing himself back down. The three hours that had passed all ready might have been fatal to Lara and all he had done during that time was laying on some strange woman's couch. He should leave as soon as possible. Silent fear had started to grow inside him. While he was laying here anything might have happened. Anything. Her eyes. He might never see them open and full of life again. Life.  
  
"Who, dear?", the woman asked like she really didn't care or then she thought that he was delirious.  
  
"A le-etter", Kurtis said and grinned when a new wave of pain emerged. He didn't let himself scream.  
  
"What letter, dear?", the lady asked still in a calm voice like nothing in this world would've touched her, like she was above this world not really connected to it.  
  
"She...told me ina l-let-tter that...she rented..."  
  
"Rented a room from a lafy across the street?", she asked in middle of Kurtis's sentence. All he could do was nod and even doing such a small movement caused him tremendous pain. "A brown hairded woman? Ms. Croft her name was I think"  
  
Kurtis was astonished. Had she rented a room from this same woman who had opened her door to a total stranger face covered with blood? He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
  
"Yes...she rented a room from me dear", the woman answered the question Kurtis didn't ask. He was going to but the words never left his lips. It felt like the woman could read her mind. Other option was that he couldn't hide the look in his eyes. He raised his head from the pillows and looked at the woman who seemed to be ready with his legs. She never even looked at his stomach wound as though she knew there was nothing she needed to do to it. She grabbed some bandages and was going to bandage his head wounds when he stopped him. A guestioning look rose into her eyes.  
  
"Not...them", Kurtis said slowly and closed his eyes for a moment. He could remember that the letter said she lived in Britain and how would he get on a plane with bandages across his head? There was a chance of course but it was minimal. He didn't even start to think the looks on their faces when they saw someone attempting to get on a plane with a head wound. And the clothes...he should get rid of the clothes. The lady seemed to understand his unspoken sentences and nodded a little.  
  
"I gathered some clothes I thought might fit you", she said not looking at him directly. "You surely don't want to wander away in those"  
  
She kept on surprising Kurtis and now he was sure that she could read her mind. He sat up quickly, too quickly really, and felt dizziness that forced him back down. Then his eyes wondered to the pile of clothing. They didn't look old and used. They looked brand new and he thought had she gone through the trouble of buying them while he was out? On the other hand she had said she had taken almost all of the glass away and though he didn't know the amount of glass he had had in his soles he knew that must have taken some time. Had the clothing just appeared from thin air? Kurtis knew that there was much in this world that was unhuman and supernatural but even he didn't believe clothing appearing from thin air.  
  
He tried to sit up again and this time succeeded. The lady didn't try to stop him in anyway. She just sat there and kept eyeing him her eyes filled with that stange glare he had seen through the window. After a moment she stood up and walked out of the room giving him time to get dressed. He grapped the first piece of clothing that appeared to be trousers. Exactly same kind of trousers he had on when taken to hospital. Exactly same number and exactly same colour He could've swore that they were his own but they were missing all the damage years had caused to them. After putting the trousers on with slight pain he reached for the shirts and they looked like his own exept they were brand new. Then his eyes travelled to the floor. He saw his shoes but they carried all the damage done to them. They were his.  
  
After he got dressed he tried standing up and to his surprise his broken body didn't cause any troubles. Only part of his body that did was his head and he could seee the world going blurry before his eyes and he had to sit back down. Third time was success although walking didn't feel too good at the moment. He leaned to the wall while making his way to the door. She did nothing to stop him.  
  
"Why?", he turned around and asked her looking her straight in the eyes.  
  
"Because all of us aren't monsters" 


	17. Bewilderment

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belongs to me. So if you want to use any of them be my guest. Only the plot is mine.  
  
Since no one seems to be reading this I might as well make this the last chapter. I'm still sorry that nothing very exciting has happened.  
  
Bewilderment  
  
He heard the door closing behind him and turned around. The strange light that glowed in the house seemed to fade and all the lights went out. He stood for a moment on the porch thinking what the strange lady had just told him. All of us aren't monsters she had said. All of who? Kurtis was quite sure that she wasn't a human being but something higher. He had no idea what but something above the mortal world. Maybe someone reaching from the light at the end of the tunnel he had been after the fight with Boaz.  
  
Kurtis didn't know how long he had stood there when he heard a car stopping in front of the house. It was a taxi and someone was getting out of it. Kurtis had to blink his eyes for a couple of time before he could see that that someone was an elderly man. Soon Kurtis' fevered blue eyes fell on the man's green ones and he saw that they were filled with astonishment and slight fury.  
  
"Just what are you doing on my porch?", the man asked glaring at Kurtis. If the woman was something above human race this man certainly wasn't.  
  
"Your porch?", Kurtis gasped out as the man's words began to pearce his mind. His porch. "You live alone?", Kurtis asked. Of course it was none of his business but he felt like he needed to know. He needed to know desperately.  
  
"And why is that your business?", the man groaned and now Kurtis could hear a silent threat in his voice.  
  
"I just wondered...", wondered what. What could he possibly say to a man who has just gotten home from a trip or something. Kurtis's eyes had noticed the man's bag earlier and he understood pperfectly well why the other was angry. He would be too if he returned from a holiday and found a total stranger on his porch that means if he had a porch. A total stranger looking like he did at the very moment. Kurtis's hand ventured to hie head and he felt something sticky. It was blood began to dry."If my friend still lives here", he knew it was a lie but there seemed to be no other way to get out of the situation.  
  
"A friend of yours?", Kurtis didn't do anything else than nod still looking directly into other man's eyes. "You must've gotten yourself a wrong address then my boy. You see I have lived alone almost ten years now. I've lived alone since my wife died" A shadow seemed to creep into the man's eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry...", Kurtis began, but the man stopped him from talking.  
  
"It was none of your doing. She was hit by a car on this very same road.", for a moment the man couldn't speak. Memories stirred in his mind as the picture of his wife laying on the street returned to his mind. "She was going to get something from the store..."  
  
Kurtis felt a slight pain inside himself and thought of his father. It had been years and years back since he had seen him. As quickly as the memory had risen it was forced back down. The elderly man's words began to make their way into his mind. He had lived alone for almost ten years. Ten Years.  
  
"How long were you gone?", was everything Kurtis was able to say.  
  
"Two weeks", the man answered slowly his eyes looking at Kurtis like he was not right in the head.  
  
"Oh...", Kurtis said before leaning to the wall. Two weeks. He had been in hospital for twelve days. Kurtis turned around and looked at the door. Its colour had changed and he could see a doorbell that hadn't been there. What had just happened and how could he be in that house with a woman who didn't live there? If he even was in that house...Carefully he walked down the stairs and opened the door of taxi.  
  
The other man was still standing there looking at Kurtis in bewilderment. "Are you all right?" Kurtis just nodded. Physically he was almost but he mentally he would propably never be. 


	18. Scales

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in the story and make no profit of it. Only the plot is mine.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTICE: I don't know if it's worth my while to keep writing this because of the lack of feedback and I really would want to know if there's any reason at all that I should continue. And please tell me if the right way of writing is Kurtis' or Kutis's.  
  
Scales  
  
Lara knew that Konstantin was driving above the speed limit but her eyes never left the man, not once. She studied his features like trying to find similarities between him and Kurtis. Nose seemed the same and thinking of it brought a wide smile on her beautiful face. Everything else exept the eyes seemed to be different. Perhaps Kurtis had inherited them from his mother or the genes had hopped a generation or few. Son had obviously gotten the glow behind his eyes from his father or so Lara thought. She had never seen his mother but believed the glow came from his father. And then there were features that didn't seem human at all. In Kurtis's eyes there was warmth and a strange pleasant feeling that Lara couldn't make out. There had also been a lot of pain she remembered. Pain that hasn't entirely been caused by his father's death but something else.  
  
Konstantin was smiling to himself. It was the first smile Lara had seen on his face and it was propably the first he had had for many years. It wasn't a simple smile. It pictured his feelings perfectly. For the first time he could actually feel free and enjoy the things that were present during his imprisonment had a different meaning. He was free. Lara couldn't imagine what it fealt like but like they said: If you have never been imprisoned you know nothing of freedom. Until this day she thought she had but a mere look on the man driving the car convinced her otherwise. She could only imagine how it felt to be able to breath again without fearing some kind of punishment.  
  
Her eyes closed and she tried to imagine his feelings at the moment and found out that she couldn't. Her longest imprisonment hadn't lasted a day because of her escape and she had been unconcious almost all of that time. A comfortable feeling filled her while pondering this.  
  
Suddenly she remembered the last thing Karel ever told her. Egyptian mythology...well at least it didn't sound very tempting. Slight anger was growing inside her. She just about had it with Egyptian mythology last time which almost had resulted in her death. On the other hand she had never valued life so much than when she saw daylight for the first time after the great pyramid had collapsed. The thought made her smile. Even green leaf had looked different like she had noticed almost something magical in the small piece of nature. She hadn't really understood the weight of mortality before her accident but now it followed her wherever she went not leaving her side.  
  
"What about Egyptian Mythology?", she asked Konstantin still looking at him. She was almost certain that Karel shared his plans with Konstantin, if for nothing else then for increased suffering. At first she thought he hadn't heard her but then there was a soft mumbling.  
  
"Don't really have time to think about that now", he replied in a low voice and it was hard for Lara to hear him.  
  
"But I need to know!"  
  
"There are more urgent matters in my mind young lady", Konstantin snapped.  
  
"Like what?", she was beginning to boil inside. She didn't want to argue with him but he left her very limited amount of choices.  
  
"Like my son and that Karel knows where he is!"  
  
His words hit Lara hard and she realized she hadn't really thought of that. Surely Karel couldn't be that quick healer and it was a long way to the hospital. But it wasn't Karel who had to find Kurtis. Perhaps he had left someone there to take care of him as soon as she sat in the car. The thought scared her and made her understand why Konstantin was driving above the speed limit. Luckily there where no police cars in sight.  
  
"Well", she began cautiously. "You ain't going anywhere and neither am I so you could tell me all the same"  
  
Konstantin sighed. Was there a way that he could get rid of the woman and her questions. Since he found none he decided he might as well answer them.  
  
"Remember what Karel said about breaking someone's will?", Lara only nodded. She remembered chrystal clear. "It is hard to explain...you remember the part of Egyptian mythology what refers to the scales?"  
  
"The scales that was used to examine if people had been good enough to find peace? Well...I have to admit that I don't believe in that part"  
  
"Better do for it exists" 


	19. A Secret Revealed

Disclaimer: None of the characters appearing in the Tomb Raider games or movies belongs to me. Only the plot is mine.

Thank you for reviewing. It warms my heart to know that someone is enjoying my work. Please keep reviewing and I'll keep on writing. By the way thank you for letting me know how it's supposed to be written. I really couldn't tell myself.

Sorry about the delay but I was on sort of a holiday and had no access to internet during last week.

A Secret Revealed

Lara could do nothing more than stare at Konstantin. The scales really existed? It wasn't so surprising now that she began to think of it. She had seen an Egyptian god or at least a form of one alive and it had sucked all the darkness and evil she had set free by not controlling her will to touch every ancient and mystical object she discovered during her expeditions. If it was real what else could be?

"Are we talking about the same scales here? The one that was used to judge people and send their souls to the underworld or into the better place?"

"The one and only that exists in the Egyptian mythology. I don't know why Karel wants it but I'm sure not to measure rice or a kilo of tomatoes", Konstantin snapped back but regretted doing it as soon as he saw Lara's eyes flung open and a questioning look rising in them. "Sorry…I didn't mean it to come out like that"

To her surprise Lara understood him or at least tried to. She had now idea how it felt to be locked up in an ancient town built by your very enemies. "Don't be", she said quickly and looked straight into his eyes at the same. Had there been a doubt in Karel's mind for not letting his slave to know his world domination plans? Had he believed deep down that one can never completely own another human being or was it just caution that had driven him into that? It was that or the other options and deep inside her she hoped it was this one…or Karel was the first evil person that had learned his lesson and even done the homework. She thought the best way to get ones plans work was not spreading the knowledge around.

"I don't know what he wants it for" Lara snapped out of her thoughts at the very moment she heard Konstantin speaking again. She looked at him for a small while and realized he hadn't looked at her while saying that.

Why would Karel want some ancient artifact that would do him no good? On the other hand he had to benefit something of this relic because he wanted it so badly. Lara didn't notice the glance Konstantin gave her. She was in so much thought at the very moment that even someone yelling right next to her couldn't make her come back to reality. There was no connection between Karel and the scales or at least none that she could find and she found the picture of the pale woman coming clearer.

"Who is she?", Lara asked suddenly and saw that her question had hit a nerve or near one. Konstantin gave her a quick glance and then muttered something in a voice hardly audible. Don't know who you mean was all that Lara heard or thought she had heard. "You know of whom I speak. I saw it in your eyes"

"And what did you see?", Lara could hear the slight rage in his tone but had already made up her mind. She would find out who the pale woman was and why had she once meant so much to the man in front of her.

"Longing…pain and agony. Distortion and most of all loss and don't act like it was nothing and tell me that I saw what I wanted to see. It was there for a second or two but that was a second too long"

"He will never know", Konstantin said quickly and the little smile that had been spread over his face vanished. "Promise me that he won't find out"

Promise him who won't find out? Was he talking about Kurtis and how could she promise not to tell something that she hadn't heard yet and how exactly she could promise not to tell Kurtis something that could change his life forever?

"I'm sorry but the promise isn't mine to make", she answered in a colder tone she had meant to but did nothing to correct her mistake.

"Then the secret isn't mine to tell Ms. Croft"

"The secret?", she couldn't help herself but everything secret had always claimed her interests and this time was no different. It couldn't be all that hard to keep the promise and the secret couldn't be that great either. She had the mind of an archeologist and all that hadn't been discovered and brought into the daylight touched the part in her that she had found harder and harder to control – the part that wanted to touch the magnificent pieces of art created by human hand or other and seal them from the daylight into her secret room where they could be only hers. "Sure I can keep a secret"

Pleased to see her mind struggling to decide what to do Konstantin just nodded.

"Well aren't you going to tell it to me?", she could almost hear her heart pounding against her chest. It was the curiosity waiting to be satisfied. It was the only want she had been able to satisfy during her years.

Konstantin let out a small laughter and then for a moment turned to look at her and his laughter died. Sadness took the control of his eyes and they grew dimmer like someone would've pulled a curtain of mist in front of them.

"She was my wife" , he answered. To be honest he really didn't want to discuss the matter more than was needed to. It had been a long time since he had seen a sparkle of life in his wife's eyes but he could still remember it as clearly as what happened in this morning.

"Was?", was all Lara could blurt out. Something in the word had struck her hard, not in the head but in the heart. Konstantin had said it in a tone that lacked hope like everything was at loss and the worst thing was that she could swear that he had meant it. For the pale woman hope wasn't an option anymore. Maybe it hadn't been one for a long, long time.

"A long time ago she was my wife. Now…she's just a victim of a cruel experiment"

Lara found nothing to say anymore. Even if her mind had created a sentence with words of wisdom in it her lips didn't seem to be able to move. Cruel experiment he had said. Not his wife anymore he had said. Something had happened to her. Perhaps she had hit her head and lost her mind but that didn't explain the experiment part.

"For a long time I thought she walked out on us, me and Kurtis", he started slowly and Lara could see the tears glimmering in his eyes. She also knew there was something weighing on him that he would be glad to be rid of. She didn't know if glad was the right word to use. Perhaps relieved was a better one. He had an urge to say something he had been forced to close in his heart during the time he had spent as Karel's slave.

"It all changed when he came for me and for the first time in my life I realized just how cruel a creature a Karel is. I didn't need to look at her longer than a second before I realized that all had been lost the very same day she had left or been taken and even now I can not be sure which option is the correct one"

Thoughts ran through Lara's mind. Just how long had she been like she was now? How long had Konstantin been imprisoned? Kurtis had never really told her anything about it and probably didn't even know the exact time of his father's 'departure'. Something in her wanted to hear how his story…or not story…she couldn't find a word to describe it would end. The other part, larger part, almost screamed Konstantin to stop.

"You saw the men with Karel?", Konstantin asked in a voice no louder than a whisper. Lara could only nod. "They…are Kurtis' half brothers…from his mother's side"

Lara didn't need to know anymore. Konstantin had raised enough of the fog covering the horrible truth. How could a living being do something like that to another? Suddenly she understood what had stolen the light from the pale woman's eyes. Each of the devils she had given birth  ripped a part with them until there was nothing to take anymore. No soul left to spare.

"H-how?" was all that Lara could utter out. Her mind was elsewhere though. It wasn't in the car anymore for it tried to think all the pain that had been caused on the poor woman. All her beauty and spirit removed in most horrible way. Then it dawned to her. Karel didn't need the sleeper, he never had. "H-how could he do that?" Lara felt something wet and warm running down her cheeks.

"How could he do that?", Konstantin asked. Lara thought that the man controlled his pain all too well. It would just be packed inside waiting for a time to explode. "How much…do you know about the nephilim?"

"I have only a few pieces of information, nothing much" It had surprised her how very little she knew about the beasts she had confronted for the first time in the Strahov Fortress.

"They, unlike us, have very little of what we call humanity", he said slowly to be sure that every single word found their way to her mind.

Lara understood him very well. Humanity, as she had always thought, was mostly made of the ability to feel compassion and other feelings compared to it. Unlike most of the people she knew she believed full-heartedly that also animals were able to feel. What had made these beings called the nephilim so wicked and cruel? What had eaten their soul? Her mind ventured back to the thought of Karel not needing the sleeper. He didn't need it to reproduce and he hadn't needed Eckhardt to that either. Had it all been a scam to get rid of the alchemist? The scales. What had the scales to do in this if Karel had found a way to reproduce his kind? 

A horrible thought crossed her mind. You could rule one's faith with the scales and Karel probably didn't have any use to the feather. He could use what he wanted as a weight. It wouldn't matter how hard crimes had the poor soul committed. With Karel's help they all would have an equal share of the stairway to heaven and for that people were ready to obey his every command. He would get his own private army as well as breeding pots but no one could be sure the people would get what they wanted.

Indulgences. That was the reason. That was everything it was about. How much would a human being be ready to pay to get to the better place? Some of them everything. Only a few could think getting there on their own but even that was impossible now. Karel wouldn't let them leave.

She hadn't noticed that they had turned to the road where the hospital was situated. The whole place was full of blinking blue lights. Police. 

"What is going on in here?", Konstantin asked slightly panicked.

"Some patient jumped through the glass and ran away not more than twenty minutes ago", the young officer answered. Lara could only look at him and to her relief the policeman didn't seem to recognize her. Konstantin on the other hand was far from calm. Inside him there was a fear and he could only hope it wasn't true. Deep down he knew who had jumped through the window. No one paid attention to the man across the street getting in taxi.


	20. Ruzyne

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters appearing in Tomb Raider games or movies. The plot still is mine. 

Sorry about this chapter but it as written when I was really tired. Please forgive me.

Ruzyne

There was something about the mysterious woman that kept bothering Kurtis while he was sitting in the taxi. He and the driver hadn't exchanged a word after Kurtis had told where he wanted to go and that was the nearest airport.

This was the first time Kurtis visited Prague and had no idea where to find the nearest airport. Hell…he hadn't even been sure there was one here. Apparently there was or so Kurtis thought he heard but the taxi driver didn't speak very good English.  He thought the airport was named Ruzyne. 

The image of the mysterious woman hadn't left him alone because there had been something in her that wasn't human. He could feel it in her presence and see it glinting in her eyes and what really had surprised him was that when he looked his own image in a mirror he could see some of that light in his own eyes. It wasn't as bright but still it was there and it was as real as the taxi he sat in. She didn't really live in the house, maybe never had and that was something Kurtis found confusing. The house belonged to the elderly man who had arrived as he had left. Had he really been inside the house? If he hadn't then where had he been? 

Kurtis had always believed in things that weren't visible for a human eye or couldn't be heard by human ears and from time to time he thought he had heard something. Perhaps just a whisper but the voices were not human and they seemed distant like someone was calling out to him through a thin wall. At first he thought he had just imagined it all but as he grew older the voices grew clearer and sometimes…just sometimes it felt like they were calling out to him like a long lost relative…like they wanted him to join them. At times he thought he was schizophrenic but the harder he thought about it the clearer it came to him. If he had had a sickness of the mind the voices would've been inside his head. He although heard them all around like they were present but he wasn't able to see them.

Where had he been to those three hours and a little over while he was inside the house? He closed his eyes as another thought pierced his mind. What if he hadn't been in the house at all? He could barely remember the eerie feeling he had inside the building like he would've left the world he called home and entered another one.

The taxi pulled over in front of a large building and it took a moment before Kurtis even noticed they had reached their destination. He drifted away from his thoughts as soon as the driver opened the door on the passenger's side and said something he didn't understand. Only thing the driver got from Kurtis was an astonished look as the passenger got out of the taxi. As soon as he had closed the door the taxi speeded away like there had been a fire burning the very wheels of the car. Kurtis stood there for a while and let his eyes look after the vanishing lights of the taxi. He could've almost sworn that the driver had seen something more in him than himself. He shrugged his shoulders and walked inside the airport. 

It was luckily still dark when he entered the building so there were less people inside. He had hoped no one would see him and it seemed that his wish was going to come true. The people who were in the building were sleeping on benches or on the floor. Shivers traveled down his spine as he recalled one long night he had spent in the airport of Stansted. He had never thought that floor could be that cold. 

Almost at the very moment he entered the building when he heard a voice announcing something. He missed the first announcement because of a rattling voice but heard it when it was repeated.

"Mr. Trent, Mr. Trent you're been expected at the information desk"

It took a moment before Kurtis realized what the voice had said. Surely it wasn't one of the voices he had heard whispering. This voice was loud and clear although little rattling as if someone had used a megaphone. He heard it for a third time. They wanted him to the information desk but it didn't make any sense. He had never been here before and had just walked through the doors. No one here could possibly know his name. No one. He had seen no familiar faces on his way here and t his knowledge he wasn't that wanted man. To his knowledge he wasn't wanted at all. 

Slowly he began his way towards the information desk or at least to the direction where the signs pointed to. No what could this be about? It didn't take long until he found the information desk and just stood there for a moment on his still slightly wobbling feet. He tried to find someone behind this strange event with his careful gazes but no one seemed to look very suspicious. No one was hiding behind a newspaper and there was no one who stared in some other direction only to glance Kurtis' acts every once in a while. He breathed in and out slowly for a while and then stepped forward. He really had a bad feeling about this.

"Excuse me", he said silently looking at the desk and not the person behind it.

"Yes?" Kurtis raised his eyes to meet the person's who stood in front of him. He was a young man with brilliant black hair and his eyes…each of them bore different color. One was grey and the other one green. 

"Well…my name is Mr. Trent and I was asked to come here for some reason" Kurtis said still finding it rather difficult to believe that this wasn't a con of some sort. There was probably just some misconception here. The place was large so it was highly possible that there was someone else who had Trent as a last name.

"Mr. Kurtis Trent?" the man with different colored eyes asked without looking at Kurtis like he would've known the answer without asking.

"That is my name", Kurtis said not trying to hide his surprised tone anymore. What could they possibly want from him?

"We have your wallet here"

If the man had looked up he would've seen the astonished look spreading over Kurtis' face. There was no way this could be real. How could his wallet be in a place he had never been before? Of course there was the slight chance that there was another Kurtis Trent here was minimal.

"You have any identification with you?"

Kurtis sighed. How could he possibly have identification with him if they had his wallet? What did the man think? He didn't carry extra id in case of something like this happening.

"My driving license is in the wallet. That should be sufficient enough", Kurtis said in a voice that sounded much more calm than he was feeling right now. The situation was really getting on his nerves. What should he do next? Fill out a form of some kind?

"Would you be kind enough to fill out this form?" the black-haired asked in a gentle voice holding a piece of paper in his hand. Kurtis grabbed it and filled it while the other man was looking at his driving license. Kurtis gave the form back to the man who checked that he had written all the information correctly and in the right spots. When he had finished the procedure he gave Kurtis' wallet back to him.

Kurtis grabbed it quickly from the man's hand like every second the stranger touched the wallet would've done it harm. He gave one last look to the man and walked away swearing to himself silently. Identification. Perhaps it was quite useful while retrieving a lost item but when it came to retrieving one's wallet where most people kept their id the whole fill the form –thing seemed outrageous.

When he was far enough from the information desk he decided to take a look inside his wallet. During his years Kurtis had lost his ability to trust other human beings. They all would just end up leaving him. His mother did…his father did…and deep down he believed that Lara did too. Not intentionally but did anyway. Being able to trust wasn't everything he had lost. He had lost the two people that had loved him. He was sure his mother had although she left him. He didn't remember what she looked like but he remembered feelings her presence. It was something warm and pleasant, calm and gentle. Serenity. About his father he wasn't so sure. They never developed same kind of a relationship that every other small boy he knew seemed to have. No…their relationship wasn't like that. There was love in it but there were no words to describe the feeling. In his father's presence he had always felt like a painting of Picasso in baroque art gallery. What about Lara then? He wasn't sure about her. He'd seen something flickering in her eyes when they met his but it could've been anything.

He took a closer look to his wallet. It was the very same he had before he was taken to the hospital. Slowly he opened it. Everything seemed to be in place. Every card was there and not a coin had been stolen. Then his eyes met something that wasn't supposed to be there. Only one black-and-white corner of it showing behind his bank card but he knew what it was. A picture. Carefully he removed it from its hiding place. The colors of the picture seemed to have faded and the whole picture looked like it had been taken in mist that made it harder to make out the outlines of the wedded couple sitting in the photo. Who were the man and the woman in the picture? He looked closer and it didn't take long until it dawned to him. It was his father's face that looked back to him from the photo. Kurtis started to watch the woman in the picture. There was something awfully familiar in her smile and her eyes twinkled so brightly that he could see the colors in the black-and-white picture. His father had only been married once. He had had lady friends after his mother had left but nothing had seemed the same anymore. At least the feelings changed. The woman in a white, shining dress had her brown hair, Kurtis was perfectly sure they had been brown, curled. Her mystical smile had the power to warm up even the coldest heart. It was his mother smiling back at him from the picture.

He walked slowly to the counter selling tickets, breathed in and out.

"Pardon me miss but when does the next plane to London leave" 

The small elderly woman with glasses turned to her computer. She was slow. Probably not very used to computers or then just taking her time. Kurtis could almost feel his blood pressure rise and his heart beat fasten. Why oh why they had to hire these people who used a computer the same way that really annoying people drove cars – under speed limit? He clenched his fists and was just about to hit the table when the woman spoke again.

"I'm terribly sorry sir but there's no places left on the next plane. The one after it has enough room"

Kurtis wondered how a human being could grow as numb as the people working in information departments or selling something and what was more amazing was that they could do it smiling. They said always something they didn't mean, like how sorry they were when they actually weren't. The sales people were worst. They were also deaf – at least they didn't hear the little word no. He sighed and was about to ask when the next plane took off but was interrupted as the phone rang. The woman answered it and after listening for a minute she almost dropped it. All the color seemed to be leaving her face as she turned to look at the young man standing in front of her.

"The-here seems to be o-one place…left on the n-ext flight", she said in a shaky voice. Kurtis didn't even want to know what had happened but what the woman had heard seemed to scare the living hell out of her. Silently he just nodded as a mark that he would take it. He knew that something had happened to the previous owner of the seat on this particular flight and most people would've intentionally missed it. Well…he wasn't most people. He paid for the ticket and a shocked impression took over his face as he realized that he had only about fifteen minutes to get to the plane.


	21. Shards of Glass

Disclaimer: I don't own them, only the plot.  
  
Please keep reviewing. You can also make proposals about the country or place where Halls of Doom are located.  
  
Shards of Glass  
  
It had been several hours now and still the police could tell nothing to Lara and Konstantin. Only thing they had learned was the fact that it really had been Kurtis who had jumped through the window. To Lara's surprise she seemed to be more concerned about Kurtis than Konstantin was. Lara found herself looking at Konstantin who actually seemed quite calm. He didn't remind the man who had begged for forgiveness in the next cell but perhaps the target of the begging had not been Kurtis. In the car Konstantin had been afraid or was there a different explanation to it? How could a father act so calmly when he knew his son had gone missing? It was simply something she couldn't understand. Perhaps family meant something different to her than it meant to Konstantin. They were two different people of course but that didn't give an explanation to how Konstantin fealt about his son. He had been worried about Kurtis during the drive to the hospital but strangely it seemed like Kurtis' jumping through a window made him relax. She didn't have children so there was no way she was able to understand Konstantin but surely she would've been terrified...or then there was something in Kurtis that didn't make Konstantin worried.  
  
There was a growing fear inside her. How couldn't the police find someone as wounded as Kurtis? That stomach wound had caused him enough harm. Why  
  
did that foolish yank jump through a window in that state? She realized that she knew exactly why. The letter. The nurse had read the letter to him and her not being there had gotten him confused. Now...he had been missing for several hours and no one seemed to know where he had gone after he had jumped through the window. There was blood on the spot and a few footprints coloured red but that was all. They suddenly just dissapeared like they never existed, like he had learned to fly.  
  
What exactly had she written in the letter? To her horror she realized that she didn't remember all of it anymore. She had written something about sending his belongings to Britain and the woman who lived accross the street. Still the dissapearance of the footprints made no sense. There had to be some if he had crossed the street. Slowly Lara got to her feet and strode to the place where Kurtis had landed after jumping through the window. The sight of bloody pieces of glass still made her heart freeze. The liquid that laid on the ground once again reminded her of mortality. As a child she had often thought how it would feel to be immortal. Would it feel any different? Was there a mystical tingeling in ones fingertips? Did food taste different? Was it easier to breathe? The concept of immortality was hard for a mortal being to understand. Was there a reason human beings weren't immortal? She sighed. How would it be different if one was immortal or not? Was there a price to pay and if the chance came would she take it?  
  
She shaked her head like trying to deny herself that the thought about wanting to be immortal had crossed her mind. It hadn't been there for long but she couldn't decline that it had existed. The thought itself didn't horrify her. What caught her of guard had been the very realization of the characteristics of the immortal beings she had had the pleasure of meeting. Almost all of them had been immortal only to a certain point. Where was immortality hidden and was it even immortality cause it could be taken away?   
  
She found herself staring at the pieces of glass. Carefully she kneeled by the pieces and picked one looking at it like it could give her all the answers she needed. The piece she held in her hand had been stained red. She kept staring at the piece for a while and realized that the blood on it could be all there was left of Kurtis. There was of course his chiruqai and wallet she had posted to her home. Thirty years of life and all there was left was a couple of objects to shove that he once lived. Perhaps Konstantin had more. Something he had kept to know his memories didn't mislead him when claiming he had a son.  
  
Looking at the piece of glass she began to think her letter again. She had definately written about the old lady across the street. She stood up and looked around. Every single policeman seemed to be doing something but to her it seemed like they were just waiting for the coffee break to start. Her eyes wondered to the houses across the street and stopped as she saw the house she had spent the nights before her kidnapping. She kept the glass shard in her hand and quickly stormed to Konstantin's side.  
  
"Konstantin...", she started with a voice not much louder than a whisper. Konstantin didn't seem to be reacting to it. Maybe Lara had been wrong about it. Perhaps it was his way to deal with his thoughts - ponder the whole thing in his head over and over again. "Konstantin", she began little louder. For some reason she didn't know herself she didn't want the police to hear although they didn.t chase her for some reason that hadn't occured to her yet. This time Konstantin had heard her and turned to her mumbling something.  
  
"I don't think Kurtis...", Lara didn't have the chance to finish her sentence when she saw Konstantin flinch and close his eyes. Was he really worried about his son or seeing visions about the last of their order fading away? She tried to look into his eyes but realized she didn't want to. Afraid about what she might see in them she kept her gaze on the ground. "could just disappear after that jump"  
  
Konstantin didn't do anything but nodded or so it seemed to Lara. It also caused her to sigh. Man standing in front of her didn't either care or had been hurt too many times to show the pain. Too many times something had reached the core. She hadn't realized it but she was staring straight into his eyes so alike Kurtis' and to her fear found out that there lurked nothing in them. This time it had cut too deep or then just pounded from the defensive wall around his heart.  
  
"I know...", he began with a voice Lara didn't know what it was filled with. He never finished the sentence though. Somehow he couldn't think about his son's disappearance. He felt there was barbed wire or something stopping the thought of loosing someone important - again - piercing his conciousness. He wouldn't take it anymore, not this time. It took several minutes for him to understand what Lara actually had been saying. She didn't think Kurtis was dead even though he had been severely injured by some creature, Boaz he thought its name was or at least Lara had told her so, and then jumped through the glass in his hospital clothes just to face the coldness of this dreadful weather. He saw the frustration in Lara's eyes and closed his eyes.  
  
What did he knew Lara questioned herself. She took a firm hold of Konstantin's arm and looked at him although she knew he didn't want to meet her eyes. She had never thought one could suffer so much pain that one became numb so there had to be a hole in his protective wall, not a very large one but still there had to be. She knew it.  
  
"Before I was...taken I", she thought for a moment how she was going to explain this to Konstantin not breaking his shell too quickly and forcing him out of it. "wrote a letter", she hoped that the impact didn't have terrible effect on Kurtis' father.  
  
"A letter?", he asked like he wouldn't have believed a word of it. Why should she write a letter to his son whom she to his knowledge hadn't known very long.  
  
"To explain the resons of my not being there when he woke up...if that would be the case", she said looking at Konstantin non-stop. What she had said seemed to have no meaning in his world. "And in that letter I told where I got a place from and where I live..."   
  
"Where you live...?"  
  
Lara understood that Konstantin was just repeating her words. It wasn't a question. It was just a repeated sentence caused by a pain-filled mind.  
  
"Even if you're not interested that doesn't mean I have to give up!", she yelled at him still trying to understand why the thought of his son's being alive or dead was unable to pierce his mind. She turned around and started to walk very fast to the house across the street she still remembered. When she was about in halfway she heard someone yelling him to wait. She crossed the street and stood there looking Konstantin crossing the street running.  
  
"If you think there's a chance...", he gasped out. "I'll come with you"  
  
Together they made their way to the house Lara remembered living a while in. When she had climbed up the stairs to the porch she knew something wasn't right. She was sure the house was right but it seemed like something was missing. To be sure of it she knocked on the door. Even it didn't sound like it used to like the very material the door had been made out of had been changed. No one answered the knocking the first time so she knocked again. To her relief she heard someone battling with the safetylocks inside the door which certainly hadn't been there the last time.  
  
When the door opened she found herself looking at an elderly man who she had never seen before. He looked strained and tired like he had been home for a little while after returning from a holiday of some sort. He might've been fired too, Lara thought.  
  
"If you're selling something I won't buy it. I also don't answer any surveys", he said without looking at them.  
  
"Nothing like that I assure you", Lara said quietly like she was affraid of hurting the total stranger. Then she tried to peek over his shoulder. "Do you live here alone?"  
  
"I can't believe it! Of all the doors in the world the nut cases have chosen to come and knock on mine"  
  
"What was that supposed to mean", Konstantin asked with a little hope in his voice.  
  
"There was someone earlier asking about the same. A young man if I recall correctly. Looked like hed been hit by a train"  
  
"Is he still here?", Lara asked again trying to peek over the mans shoulder expecting to see Kurtis' head pop up any time now.  
  
"No. He took the same taxi I arrived in about couple hours ago. Don't know where his heading"  
  
Lara was stunned. She and Konstantin had been here for a couple of hours. How much earlier...or later had the taxi left. She shrugged her shoulders but was suddenly been grabbed from arm and almost carried away by Konstantin.  
  
"What are you doing?!", she yelled at the bewildered man in front of her.  
  
Konstantin stopped and glared at her for a little while. "There's no point going after Kurtis now"  
  
She couldn't believe her own ears. Was the man really throwing aside his son's rescue attempt or at least a retreaval attempt.  
  
"Why?", she didn't realize how hard she had yelled.  
  
Konstantin spinned around facing her. "There are more important things that need attending to"  
  
This was a day Lara thought she never would see with her own eyes. There were things in Konstantin's world that overtook the concern he had had about his son.  
  
"Like what!?", she still yelled but now she didn't mind.  
  
"Like to find the Halls and stop Karel" 


	22. Ghastly Voices

Disclaimer: Characters not mine. Owned by someone else.  
  
It would be nice to recieve some reviews concerning my work. I'm beginning to doubt if it's any good and for a few times I have thought about quitting writing fanfiction. Just tell me something...anything...even a reason to stop writing this. Propositions of how to make this better are also welcome. I'm sorry about the tenses and my writing errors. All of them are mine cause I have no program that would check spelling.  
  
Ghastly Voices  
  
Kurtis had never enjoyed flying and the experience he just had hadn't convinced him otherwice. There had been turbulence almost the whole time and that was something that he didn't go hand in hand with. The thing he hated most was the food or something the staff of the plane called food. It didn't taste anything but for some reason made him feel nauseous. He sighed mostly for joy because the plain had landed. He had thought it never would do such a thing. He had to sit next to an old man who told him almost everything there is to know about the Second World War. When they had been flying about an hour Kurtis had thought he could die of boredom. Hearing again and again the old man telling how his buddies had died was anything but good entertainment. Surely he had felt bad for the old man but after a while he had started to feel bad for himself. Did he look like someone who gladly listened every memory and trouble of fellow men.  
  
He sighed again. This time it was for the lack of taxis. He had never thought it could be hard to get a cab here and yet here he was standing in a long line waiting to get in one of those infernal pieces of metal. He himself preferred his bike. When this small realization swooped over him he closed his eyes. His bike. It must still be there where he left it after arriving to Praque...and there was no way to retrieve it now.   
  
At least he knew where Lara lived and for the first time was pleased with himself about the backround check he made of her after he left the small Parisian cafe. Most of the information he had managed to gather had been wrong. He had understood it when they met in the Louvre and the understanding had deepened when they exchanged words for the first time. She was nothing they had written in the articles - instead of it she had seemed to be everything else. The first time he had read the articles about her being the Monstrum he found it hard to believe. To be honest he couldn't believe it. There was something in the way she carried herself that made her appear right-minded not some wacko who roams the streets sucking the liquid of life out of every person that doesn't please her.   
  
He didn't know how long he had stood there thinking about Lara but he was brought back from his thoughts when a taxi driver hooted his horn.  
  
"Are you going to get in?", he yelled angrily his eyes blazing with hatred.  
  
Kurtis couldn't do nothing more than wonder for a moment where the man's anger came from. Then he silently opened the passanger's side door and sat in. In a low voice he told the driver where he was heading. He was going to see the place where Lara lived, the chairs she sat on while eating, the gym - he was positive that she had at least some sort of equipment - the bed she slept in and smell the air she breathed out and in. He tried to imagine what her home looked like for there had been no picture of the building in the articles. One had mentioned she lived in the Croft Manor. He remembered quickly what the letter told him . Winston knows who you are. Winston who? Was Winston her husband? If Lara was his wife Kurtis thought he would never let her have all those adventures alone. Kurtis came to the conclusion that Winston weren't Lara's husband or boyfriend or then their relationship was really dry.  
  
While he was thinking about Lara the taxi had found its way to Surrey where Lara's mansion was located. Seeing the magnificent building for the first time caused Kurtis' eyes to flew open. He had thought that a woman like Lara wanted a larger place than a bed-sitting-room or a one-bedroom apartment like he had but not in his wildest dreams had he imagined her living in a mansion this large. They stopped at the gate and the driver got out of his taxi to ring a bell by the wrought-iron gate. Soon a voice called out to them asking what was their business. The taxi driver told to the voice carefully who was the man in the passenger seat of the taxi and some parts of why he had travelled all the way from Praque to meet the lady of the house. Kurtis' last hopes of finding Lara here faided away when the voice told them she hadn't been there for a long time. The taxi driver sat back on the driver's seat when the gate suddenly opened with loud screak.  
  
After getting out of the taxi and paying for the ride Kurtis noticed an elderly man standing on the doorstep watching him. He approached the man carefully not only because of suspicion but also because of his wounds. The stomach wound that wasn't healed yet still blead a little and to his releaf only a few stiches had broken. His feet really didn't feel that bad and to him it felt like they had never even met the shards of glass. The couple of scratches he had on his scalp and forhead weren't bad and to his surprise his palms hadn't even touched the glass. None of his bones were broken and only a couple of his ribs had cracked. He felt fine.  
  
"Mr. Kurtis Trent?", the man in tuxedo asked him. To Kurtis the man looked like a butler just a little bit too old to be one.   
  
"I am he", Kurtis replied.   
  
"This way sir", the butler opened the door to Kurtis who, not used to a servant, eyed him for a while before stepping inside.  
  
"Who might you be?", Kurtis asked rather bluntly. The shocked expression on the butler's face made Kurtis realize that he wasn't use to be treated in such a manner. "I'm sorry, sir" Kurtis said quickly. In his whole life he had never had anyone, not even a nanny, who would've been around just to serve him.   
  
"No harm done mr. Trent. Ms. Croft informed me of your possible appearance. I have redied a room for you sir"  
  
"Thank you mr...?"  
  
"You may call me Winston"  
  
Winston showed Kurtis his room and after being awake far too long for man in his condition Kurtis went to sleep. He didn't care if the day was dawning he just needed to rest for a while. While he was sleeping Winston took the package Lara had sent him and took it into Kurtis' room.  
  
"Kuurtisss..."  
  
Kurtis didn't need more than the cold voice to jump out of the bed grimacing when the stiches made their protest to the sudden movement. He stood there for a moment so his eyes could get used to the darkness - he had pulled the curtains down so the raising sun wouldn't wake him up.  
  
"Kuurtisss..."  
  
He wasn't even sure if the voice was really calling to him. It sounded like a whisper but lenghtened one through lips that had been partly sewed shut. He felt cold. Not just because of the voice but also the temperature seemed to have reached lower grades. It and the voice made him get goose bumps and shiver. He moved closer to the door to put lights on.   
  
"Winston?", he yelled although he already knew that no living creature could make a hissling sound match the one he had heard. No one answered his call. He pushed the switch and caused the room bathe in light. There was no one there. Slowly Kurtis stepped towards the bed suddenly feeling the breeze over his hand. He turned to look at the two windows in the room and found both of them closed.  
  
"Kuurtisss..."  
  
Kurtis jumped backwards expecting to bump in someone but no one was there. The last whisper had sounded like whoever made the voice was standing next to him whispering in his ear. He could hear how hoarse the voice was like it was calling to him from another state of existence. Kurtis' breath began to slow down as he turned around only to find nothing around him. A shiver made its journey down his spine making him more alert.  
  
Sigh "Hhhhhh...Kuurtiiss"  
  
He froze. Again the source of voice was right next to him and now he could feel it. Slow cold breath against his cheek. He swallowed soundly and turned his gaze to the sound and breath only to find no one there. The breath stayed now caressing his face. Something slid slowly down his cheek like someone blind was trying to form an image of his facial structure. The touch felt cold and dead. The limp fingers he felt on his cheek lingered there a while.  
  
"Kuurtiss..." 


	23. Difference in Opinion

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.  
  
Thank you for reviewing. If you have any ideas where the Halls of Doom is located please share them and of course please review.  
  
Difference in opinion  
  
She didn't know how long they had just sat in their hotel room but neither of them had closed their eyes to get some sleep. Their reasons for staying awake differed from each other's. Lara, for her part, thought about Kurtis' disappearance while Karel flooded Konstantin's mind. It was obvious that both of them thought about the Halls and the scales every now and then but their thoughts were soon directed to the same paths they had travelled before.  
  
Her brown eyes tried to make a contact with his brown ones like searching a reason for his behavior. It amazed her still that he was willing to let his son run because of Karel and for a moment she had really wanted to smack him around a bit but had soon came to her senses. What reason was there to show her anger when she still needed his help to stop Karel before it was too late? She looked around. The hotel room was nice although it didn't matter to her at the moment wether she slept in a hotel with five stars or a simple motel with one star. She thought she wouldn't feel the bed under her even if she tried to get some sleep.   
  
The first rays of sunshine were reaching out to them from the window and made her familiar with time again. Second by second it had crawled away like it was affraid that running would hurt it. The second hand of the clock had circled the face again and again.   
  
"Why?", she asked suddenly not facing Kurtis' father when he lifted his gaze to meet hers.  
  
"Why what?"  
  
"Why don't you want him to know?", she couldn't believe herself asking that particular question. It had just popped out of her mind. This question was something she desperately needed an answer to if not for her gain then at least to try and understand the man sitting opposite her little better. She had known people who were like puzzled but never one she could compare to a puzzle containing thousand pieces and the only thing portrayed in the picture is sky. Konstantin seemed to be one. To her it looked like he so desperately needed to talk his mind but something in him blocked the very thought of opening up.  
  
"What is the thing you hate most in this world?" , he asked without looking at her.   
  
She hadn't expected a question in return and it took her by surprise.   
  
"Death", she answered quickly, too quickly, and thought that Konstantin looked like he wanted an explanation. "It's so overwhelming. I've always been in charge of everything in my life, even the smallest of things. The thought that there is something I have no control over makes the hatred boil inside me"  
  
Konstantin stared her for a while and then smiled a bit.  
  
"No ms.Croft. You chose the most obvious of them all. It's hardly likely that there is a human being alive who doesn't hate the raw fact of mortality. The thought that all of us have to leave this life to face whatever is after it"   
  
Something in his voice made her shiver and his eyes...they once again looked like exploring her soul. Maybe he already knew the answer, maybe his eyes had revealed it to him. In front iof him she felt naked. Not literally, of course, but something in his gaze tore down all the defensive barriers she had managed to build ovet the years.  
  
"Falling in love", she announced quietly.  
  
"Why on earth would you hate that? I've heard about people who fear it but none who would hate it"  
  
"Because...I've forgotten how it feels like"   
  
Konstantin knew better not to oush her more. He had seen the fire burning in her eyes and it was enough of a warning for him to let go.   
  
"I hate nothing more than the evil caused upon this world in the form of nephilim" he stated quickly. "And I taught him to hate it as well"  
  
Lara could only stare him in disbelief. The first thought about teaching someone to hate someone else in her mind was about the nazis. She didn't believe in that kind of hate. She only had a grudge or few against a couple of people. Well...against a lot of people but she had a reason for every one of them.   
  
"I think...", Konstantin continued quietly. "...it would be easier to him to think", he held a little pause. How could he tell it to her. The way she had looked her earlier when they had heard Kurtis took a taxi wasn't something he yerned to see again. At the moment it had felt like she had blamed him about all the trouble in the world. In her eyes had been a look of deep despice. Was that really what she thought about him?   
  
"To think what Konstantin?", Lara asked her tone harsh.  
  
"That his mother left him", he finally managed to say. He stared at the tablecloth not wanting to meet her gaze. He knew how horrible that must've sounded.  
  
"Than what really happened to her", she finished his sentence. There were so many things she wanted to say to Konstantin. They roamed in her mind trying to find a way out. She tried to calm down by breathing slowly and clenching her fists but the will to put the man in front of her to his place took her over. She pushed herself up and took a firm hold of his chin so their eyes met. In her eyes was again the look that Konstantin had tried to avoid.  
  
"So you never thought if he liked to hear it o not!? You just keep your own head trying to put people out of the harms way by not telling them something they have a birth right to know!", in her eyes danced the fierce flames. "You think it's better for him to believe his mother didn't want him and left?! There's no more humanity in you than in Karel! You're just as vile a beast as he is!!" After saying this she stormed through the doot and disappeared leaving Konstantin sitting alone and stunned. 


	24. Footprints

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that have appeared in the Tomb Raider games or movies. Plot belongs to me. No profit is made out of this.  
  
Thank all you nice people who have reviewed. You really saved my day. Please do review and share your thoughts about my fic. Also propositions about the country or the place where the Halls are would be nice. Sorry about Winston in this one. I think he turned out to be very un-butler-like.  
  
Footprints  
  
Although he stared directly at the source of the voice and breath he saw nothing. Carefully he took a few steps back and felt the fingers reaching out for him like their owner couldn't move from its place. Kurtis stood there watching still seeing not a soul. He felt the coldness surrounding him and slowly crawling inside him making his breathing difficult. His brown hair danced slowly in the rythm of the thing's breathing. Then he heard it moving and found out he was unable to move. It sounded like it was dragging a wet piece of cloth behind it. Kurtis could see the marks of its wet feet forming on the floor.  
  
"Kuurtiisss..."  
  
His legs gave in and shortly after he found himself sitting on the floor. The footprints approached him and he noticed his breath had began to come out in the form of steam. The scream he had been holding back fought its way through and managed to escape his lips. His legs not being able to move he used his hands to back off but soon found out something solid behind him. A wall. The sickening sound of wet cloth being pressed against floor was all he could hear. The sound of the old clock ticking in the hall had faided long ago.  
  
"Kuurtiisss..."  
  
He could only stare his eyes wide from a shock. Cold sweat made its way down his back slowly and normally it would've made him tickle but now no sensation could grow stronger than the fear nestling in him. It felt like it squeezed his heart enough to let it struggle for a next beat. To him it felt like the blood in his veins had curdled or floated through them with little bits of ice in them. He closed his eyes finding himself unable to watch the nearing wet footprints. For a moment he thought it was his own breathing he heardbut the voice sounded like its owner had a very bad pneumonia. It was a wheezing sound, far from anything he had heard before.  
  
The same cold and limp fingers touched his chin and lifted his face so that he was supposed to be watching the thing straight in the eyes. Another limp hand opened his eyelids carefully. Its touch made shivers rock Kurtis' body and rather hesitantly he opened his eyes. Nothing was in front of him like usual.  
  
"Hiiictuure..."  
  
It said with a raspy voice and Kurtis found it impossible to find out what it meant. Suddenly it made a shriek and for a moment Kurtis could see decaying teeth not more than a couple inches from his eyes. After it all remained silent, even Kurtis. He sat on the floor staring directly in front of him not sure if the thing had disappeared. His breathing was rapid and uneven.  
  
That was the place where Winston found him that morning. The elderly gentleman stared at Kurtis in bewilderment and almost dropped the salver that he carried. On it he had placed a cup of tea and Lara's favorite - beans on toast. He carefully placed the silver tray on the table next to the bed Kurtis had slept in and opened the curtains letting in sunlight. Winston gaspes as he saw Kurtis in the bright light. Kurtis' face were pale like thay had either seen a ghost or not seen daylight in a year or two. There was scratch on his nose and he stared directly in front of him unable to move.  
  
Winston crouched next to Kurtis looking him but it seemed like the younger man didn't even acknowledge his presence.  
  
"Mr. Trent", he said patiently. Kurtis didn't seem to notice him. Winston waved his hand in front of the younger man's eyes but the irises didn't seem to be following the movement of his hand. He looked at the small flow of blood running from the scratch.  
  
"Mr. Trent", he said louder and after thinking for a moment tapped Kurtis on the shoulder. This seemed to have the wanted effect of at least a part of it. Kurtis slowly turned his face so he could face Winston but his eyes still seemed to be staring somewhere beyond this world. As he faced Kurtis Winston noticed that the younger man's breath came out as steam. He also seemed to be trembling. Winston stood up and got the blanket from the bed and placed it carefully on Kurtis. After doing it he pulled out a chair and simply sat there.  
  
It took a little while before Kurtis began to vome out of it. First he just blinked a couple of times trying to make his vision clearer and when he managed to see Winston's outlines he gasped and backed against the wall. Only when Winston spoke he managed to relax a bit.  
  
"Did you...hear it?", Kurtis asked quietly glancing around like waiting something would jump on him as soon as he laid his defences down.  
  
"Only thing I heard was You screaming, sir", Winston answered politely. "Though many hours ago the wind blew all the doors open. It was rather strange"  
  
Kurtis now looked directly at Winston. "What do you mean 'strange'?", he asked rather straight and apologized it little later.  
  
"No need to apologize sir" Winston replied. "It seems strange because if I recall correctly I locked them before going to sleep"  
  
"You locked the doors?", Kurtis asked recieving a small nod as an answer from Winston. If Winston had locked the doors how could they open up simply because of the wind?   
  
"There appears to be a scratch", the butler said nodding towards Kurtis. When the younger man looked puzzled Winston tapped his own nose. Kurtis slowly raised his hand to touch his nose feeling the grimson liquid bleeding from the scratch. It was only a minor scratch but what shocked Kurtis was the fact that it was there and he could only think of one thing that might have caused it. Winston noticed Kurtis' shocked expression and decided to stop pushing the matter.  
  
"Ms.Croft sent me some of your belongings." Winston stated standing up and walking to the table next to the bed. He picked up a brown box and handed it to Kurtis whose blue eyes looked at it suspiciously. Slowly he took it from patiently waitnig butler. The packet seemed unharmed and apparently no one had opened it. He ripped of the tapes and opened the parcel revealing two items. The largest was his chiruqai, the weapon he moved through the air by using telepathy. There seemed to be a letter also. When he lifted the letter he noticed a small black and white picture. He picked up the picture leaving the other items untouched. It was a picture of a row boat and two people sitting in it. Father and son. He realized he knew the man in the picture. It was the very same man in than tin the picture in his wallet, his father so the small boy must've been him. He could still remember the fishing trip because it was the only one they had ever shared. What hit him hard was the realization that there had been no one except them and yet the picture was taken close to the boat like the one who took it stood next to the boat. The picture like the one that had preceded it was blurry like there would've been mist when it was taken. Kurtis stood up and went for his wallet. Soon he held the other picture in his hands also looking at the woman in the picture. She blinked once - twice. 


	25. Cruelty of Nature

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Tomb Raider games of Movies. I don't own the place names, but the plot is very much mine.  
  
Thank you for reviewing and I really do mean it.  
  
Tombrider: Fanfiction.Net is totally free for the authors and I think the writing space isn't limited also. There's a certain size the chapters can be but I think that's it. At least I haven't had any problems with space yet.  
  
Please keep on reviewing.  
  
Cruelty of Nature  
  
She stormed out of the hotel to the street muttering to herself. Only the cold air made her realize that she she really was outside the building and wasn't wearing any jacket. She had stormed down the stairs and the hotel's lobby like she had been asleep knowing she would never wake up. This day like the two weeks preceding it had been like a nightmare come true but even in the darkness she had seen light. Not in the form of angels or anything supernatural. To her his precence had been enough encouragement and that's why looking at him lying on that hospital bed so helpless had hurt her. He had been the only thing that had kept her going in addition to her want to avenge Werner.   
  
She breathed in deeply. He had been there and now he wasn't. It was that simple. He had disappeared like the earth itself had opened its greedy mouth and swallowed him. Where could've he gone? She had sent his wallet to her place so he couldn't leave the country. He couldn't leave the country. She hadn't thought about it that way before. If something had happened to her besides being captured what could've he done? She didn't know much about the border controlling of Prague but one thing they surely wanted was to see a passport or at least some kind of identification. Now that she started to think of it it hadn't been very wise of her to send his wallet away. What if someone had opened the package and it never made to England?  
  
Only voice that pierced her thoughts was the crunching of snow under her feet. The voice of thousands of unique snowlakes crushing together and becoming one.   
  
Suddenly a black car drove down the street she was walking on. It had black glasses on it that prevented people seeing in the vehicle. It stopped right outside the hospital and to Lara's shock she noticed the man stepping out of the car. How could she forget the blond hair and though she couldn't see them the icy blue eyes. Those orbs were the first so cold ones Lara had seen and they alone made her loose her faith in life. Something that had created creautures like the nephilim had to be crooked to the core. She wanted to believe otherwise but the thought didn't leave her alone. All the beauty and hope the little word life had once held had vanished like it had never existed. Vanished because of the coldness in those eyes. Inhumanity existed there and Karel's eyes were its lair. It laid down there hidden from the world preparing for reaching out and conquering it.  
  
They hadn't noticed her standing there. They hadn't even looked around. When the four of them got out of the car they marched as one in the hospital knowing that they would find what they were looking for in the building. All the other men accompaning him were taller than Karel but still looked like his pets. They would propably jump after him in a well had he done it before them. Lara would've found the thought funny if she hadn't known who the men accompaning Karel were or better said who their mother was. Lara's thought's ventured for a moment to the pale woman standing there seeing nothing. It must've hurt more than any human being could imagine and she couldn't feel anything but sympathy towards the woman who had brought these vile creatures into existence.  
  
When she woke from her thoughts they were alreydy inside the hospital. They hadn't seen her because they had expected her to be sitting next to Kurtis' bed while Konstantin was gnawing his fingernails and walking in circles. For once Lara was pleased that there was a human part in Karel as well even though it had been consumed by the darkness of the creature which was in control. She sprinted up the street reaching the hotel in no time. The receptionist yelled something after her but the message didn't reach her ears. Everything else but running away seemed to be a trivial detail at the moment. She dug the room key from her pocket trying not to lost hold of it. Her hands where shaking when she tried to fit the key into the lock and that's when it fell.  
  
Konstantin was brought back from the pleasant world of sleep in which he had finally managed to succumb after Lara left by a loud racket outside the door. He let some not so carefully picket words escape his lips before "answering" the door. He hadn't ordered anything from room service and even if he had he thought they didn't serve any other rooms than the suites. Slowly he opened the door and seeing Lara criuched in the floor made his eyes fly open from surprise. Slightly amused look took over his face but was guickly swept away when his eyes met Lara's. He couldn't define what he saw in them. The emotion behind her eyes was a mix of fear and some others he couldn't identify. She didn't say anything. Instead of it she jump jumped up and bursted in the room grabbing the few things they had with them.  
  
"We have to leave...NOW!", she said to him sharply not letting her eyes be distracted from the door through which she hurried.   
  
Konstantin looked at her almost in awe. There was a spark in her that had escaped from him long ago. He was going to ask her where she was going but no chance for the question arrived so he rushed out behind her.  
  
"Where are you going!", he yelled after her like being afraid that no lesser sound would reach her.  
  
"As far away as possible or at least somewhere he can't find us from!", she yelled back at him going down the stairs. She knew they had no time to waste. As soon as Karel heard there was no Kurtis in the hospital anymore he would be right on their trail. She could almost feel Karel's breath pn her neck and flinched at the thought.  
  
"Who?", Konstantin yelled even though she would've heard it if he had spoken lees loudly.  
  
She sighed. How stupid could the man be? "Who do you think!? The Easter bunny?", she yelled not even trying to hide the frustration she felt. She almost ran through the lobby but stopped dead on her tracks when leaving the building. Her eyes were fixated on the sight that greeted her infront of the hospital. Four men exited the building and without looking around stepped inside the car.  
  
"What? Karel's here?", she heard Konstantin asking. Lara only nodded slowly re-entering the hotel and looking at Konstantin.  
  
"We'd better use another exit", she stated. 


	26. The Pictures

Disclaimer: Still don't own any of the Tomb Raider games or movies characters. The plot is mine.  
  
It's always nice to hear if you like my work or not. Feel free to tell me. I'm sorry for the shortness of this chappy. Quess I need a little time to think what to happen next.  
  
Thank you for reviewing and lightening up my normally so boring days. Suetekh, I really don't mind in which place you review my story. I'm somewhat asounished that people still read it.  
  
The Pictures  
  
He was shocked and for a moment he thought he had imagined it. All that the picture in his hand was was a ceased moment of time long gone by now. He hand't existed then and because of that it was hard for him to think the time in the picture had ever existed or the event in it ever occured. If the picture presented a moment, only one moment in time, there was no way the images in the picture could move. If what his eyes were telling him was true the picture could not have been taken during his parent's wedding or then there was more to it than it let out.  
  
He found himself staring at the picture not wanting to believe what he saw a moment ago but still having the need to be sure. She blinked again and her eyes were looking directly at him. Kurtis gasped and dropped the picture breathing rapidly. Winston eyed hin suspiciously still sitting on the chair. He stood up slowly and walked to Kurtis who just stood there his eyes closed. To Kurtis it felt safest to think what he couldn't see couldn't hurt him and so he used the oldest trick in the book of ways of hiding oneself - closing one's eyes. Winston stood a while next to the younger man a look of concern so obvious on his face.  
  
"Mr. Trent", he called softly receiving only a simple nod from the obviously scared man.  
  
Sure Kurtis had seen much during his years of life but a picture looking directly at him was something even he hadn't had the cahce to come across. Blinking was just a cherry on top of it all. Sometimes Kurtis envied the so-called normal people and the sweet oblivion they lived in. In their world the only supernatural event appeared when they received too much change from their shopping or found a twenty-dollar bill.  
  
Kurtis opened his other eye careful not to glance at the picture and looked at the elderly man from the corner of his eyes. Winston wasn't looking at him but the picture resting on the carpet. He picket it up and looked at the couple in it for a little while. In it posed a just married couple or at least Winston thought so. The woman had very lowely face and little curly long hair. The young man's facual structure reminded Kurtis' and Winston glanced at him just to be certain. He felt a great want to ask Kurtis about the picture but as a butler he wasn't entitled to ask such questions. It was a whole different story with Lara to whom he was more like a friend than a servant. When it came to Lara's friends Winston acted by the butlers' etiquette.  
  
Kurtis wasn't aware of the etiquette and therefore was stunned by Winston's actions. In this point people were usually asking a load of questions starting from the people in the picture all the way to the ones about how he'd felt when his mother left and had he ever seen a therapist. The last question was asked only once - by a therapist - but it had surprised him nonetheless. He had come to the conclusion that people with boring lives wanted to reach out and taste a bite of someone else's. As Winston still said nothing Kurtis doubted a while whether or not he should tell the butler.  
  
Kurtis filled Winston in about the people in the picture. He wasn't surprised when Winston told him he had already known. There was obvious resemblance between Kurtis and his father.  
  
Now relaxed, Kurtis took the picture fron Winston and looked at it. There was a soft smile on her face but in it hid something sad. Then a single tear rolled down her face. He felt it again. The utter coldness crept up from its hiding place and the eerie feeling returned to him. He glanced at Winston quickly seeing the man smiling at the photograph apparently not seeing what Kurtis did. The realization hit its mark. Winston hadn't heard the hoarse voice either. Had he felt the coldness? Had his breath come out as a steam? Suddenly Kurtis smiled too. If no one else could see it or hear the voices that must mean he had lost his mind. After all it wasn't such a bad thing to happen and probably that therapist he had met once would've drawn to the conclusion that it was all happened because of his mother leaving him at such a young age. Then he realized it. His father had destroyed all of their wedding pictures and all of the ones about his mother. It had simply been too much for Konstantin to live with. The picture in his hands wasn't taken at his parents wedding.  
  
He touched his nose again. The scratch was real enough so must the creature that gave it to him be. Kurtis gave another glimpse to the photograph and turned it around. Behind it was writing that merely stated the date the picture was taken. Yesterday. He took the other photograpd looking at him and his father sitting in the boat. Something in his head tried to tell him that turning the picture around wasn't worth it. Perhaps it was the very thing people called the instinct of selfpreservation. He had never been good in listening to it so he turned the photo around. His eyes flew open in disbelief. The date was exactly the same than in the other picture. Even the time was same. The pictures had been taken exactly at the same time.  
  
There was something else behind the fishing trip picture. Something that hadn't been there before - writing. It appeared behind the picture in front of his eyes. 


	27. The Alley

Disclaimer: The characters of this story aren't mine. Only the plot is.  
  
Keep on reviewing and thank you for all of whom have already done so.  
  
The Alley  
  
Quickly they ran up the stairs like the devil itself was following them. Lara led the way and Konstantin was almost right on her heels. How come the person you don't want to see at the very moment happens to appear like from thin air, she wondered.. Surely Karel was the last person she needed around right now. She ran to the end of the second storey and hastily opened the door that led to a small balcony and fire escape. They would have to do. Konstantin appeared behind her sweating a little. His breath came out as small gasps. Lara glanced at him a little bit of amusement on her beautiful eyes.  
  
"Try spending a couple of years in captivity. I'm sure you're not as fit as you're now when you get out", he whispered her like being afraid that Karel was inside the building.  
  
Only answer Konstantin got from Lara was faint grin that didn't reach her eyes. In a second the grin was gone and so was the eyecontact they had shared. She looked around and after finding the area safe lowered the fire escape.  
  
They had ended to an alley behind the hotel and the smell told them that the door they saw separated them from kitchen. Konstantin looked around astonished. The alley was filled with dustbins. The damn hotel must produce more garbage in a day than a five-membered family during a year. The smell made him feel sick.  
  
Lara on the other hand didn't seem to mind the smell. Her mind was filled with thoughts about Karel. The car! The car was still on the parking lot of the hospital. Had Karel noticed it? There was no way a car with a broken windscreen could be left unnoticed by his eyes and he'd know they are or at least were here when he'd see the car. What if he already had seen it? There was always the possibility that he wouldn't come and search the hotel but Lara couldn't risk it. They would've to leave and right now.  
  
"Have another great plan?", Konstantin hissed to her like she was to blame for Karel's existence. At the moment it was easiest to him to blame her.  
  
Lara shrugged her shoulders. What did he think she was? A fairy godmother that made all the little things he managed to wish for true? She looked at him while he stared at the dustbins wrinkling his nose like he had never have to smell a couple of days old trash before. There was something so not human in the man she thought. Perhaps it was the way he thought about his son. She knew there were people who even hated their children but franly said she had never met one who simply didn't care. While their escape it had seemed for a moment that he thought his son as something else than the continuation of the bloodline and Lux Veritatis.   
  
She went to peek around the hotel corner wether it was safe to continue their little escape journey. At the moment she peeked she saw the same black car turning from the street corner.  
  
"Konstantin", she whispered to him getting no response. He seemed to be too apalled by the amount of trash that he couldn't hear. "DUCK!" she yelled not minding if the cold-eyed man sitting in the approaching car heard them.  
  
Her scream bore into his mind forcing himto hear the message. He looked around and found a hiding place behind a rather large dustbin while Lara simply pressed herself against the wall hoping Karel and his little friends weren't so observative that they would notice her. The few seconds before the car passed the small alley seemed like the last hour before the end of the world. Finally the car passed the alley moving slowly like a doom approaching and its victims knowing about its coming. She waited for a few moments after the car had glided out of her line of sight before she peeked again seeing the car taking a left turn from the next corner. Lara let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and signaled to Konstantin that it was safe now. Konstantin emerged from his hiding place next to her and Lara could only smile a little. The smell the man had despiced had partly attached itself on his clothes. A dark spot in his back told her that at least one of the carbage bags he had decided to hide with had had a hole in it. A silent litany of curses told her that he had noticed it too.  
  
"Now what? We can't stay. They might come back", there wasn't a slightest sign of panic in his voice.  
  
They might, she thought. There is already the chance that they had been seen. Konstantin began to grow restless and kept on talking about something she didn't understand. At least Karel deserved a great plus for one thing - his nerves. Lara couldn't believe how someone had put up with Konstantin for a couple of years. She was beginning to get bored already and she had known him only a short while. Perhaps Karel didn't have to put up with the ordinary Konstantin. The fear Konstantin had felt towards Karel had been a sort of a leash and Konstantin had been 'trained'...perhaps like the dogs of Pavlov. It was hard for Lara to imagine that Konstantin was once a member of Lux Veritatis. Perhaps he still could be counted as a member but at least not an active one. Then again fear had been known to tame the souls of the very bravest ones.  
  
"Well?", he asked. The man sure didn't have much patience.  
  
"We need to get a ride away from here", Lara answered him not bothering to look in his direction. Then she noticed it. Down the street was a payphone. "You got a few coins?" 


	28. Words

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, do own the plot.  
  
Please please review  
  
Words  
  
Kurtis stared as if he had no other option. Something he had never thought possible was coming true right in front of his eyes. He felt someone staring at him and lifted his eyes from the picture and met Winston's. The old man still smiled but stopped when he saw the stunned expression on Kurtis' face.  
  
"You don't see them do you?", Kurtis asked staring straight into Winston's eyes seeing the doubt that flooded in them.   
  
"See them?" the older man asked with a curious voice.  
  
"The words", Kurtis said still staring at the other man. Even to himself he sounded like someone who had lost his mind. Did Winston still have his fantasyglasses on? Did he believe the weirdest thing that might happen was that he wouldn't find matching socks in the morning?  
  
"No", Winston simply replied. He had been accustomed to mysteries being Lara's butler and friend but he had never come across something like this. He knew about all the artifacts that Lara stored in the mansion and though he had alway found everything supernatural fascinating he didn't have the need to touch the objects. With supernaturality always came responsibility and he already had a fair share of it. He didn't need more. "What do they say?"  
  
Kurtis looked at Winston in amazement. Didn't the man think he had lost his mind? Any normal person would've called to the nice people in white coats and run away or at least go and hide. Of course he was Lara's butler. That must be the reason. He had travelled to the world of mysteries on Lara's wing and now spend every day around the objects she had gathere during her adventure years. What surprised Kurtis was that Winston acted so calmly like this was something he experienced all the time. Like it was a part of normal life. Kurtis' life had never been near normal and still this had caught him off-guard. Pehaps it was the age. Perhaps Winston had seen enough not to be surprised encountering something like this.  
  
"Karel lives", Kurtis stated and only after reading the words their whole meaning came clear to him. It felt like someone had injected him with local anaesthetic. He couldn't resist his jaw from dropping and his eyes growing wider as the shock caused by the two very simple words finally hit him. Seconds flew past but he couldn't lift his eyes from the photograph's back.  
  
Winston didn't react the same way. To him Karel didn't exist as he existed to Lara or Kurtis. First thought that crossed the butler's mind was that this Karel was a long lost friend who had been thought dead but why should it cause such a shock to the younger man. There might be many reasons and he went through all of hte ones he could think of not finding a perfect match. The other choice was that Karel was something not thought to be nice by a rational mind.  
  
What Winston never managed to think was what Kurtis thought now. Who the hell was Karel? What good it was for him to know that someone named Karel had survived? If he remembered correctly there was someone called Karel in the Cabal but he wasn't anyone of great importance. The words hadn't been the reason of his shock but the sheer fact that the words were there and the handwriting was so clean like the someone who wrote it stood in his place. The words weren't scruffy which they should be because they were written while he held the picture in his hand. There were no signs of the picture bending during the writing. Kurtis could draw only one conclusion. Whatever wrote the words it was not from this world.  
  
The words shattered to tiny pieces which disappeared giving space to new ones. "Halls of Doom"  
  
Kurtis grimaced. How could it sound so familiar. He turned the picture around but saw no hint. What he saw made him drop the photograph again. On the water he had seen a reflection of a woman. Every single one of her features could be seen black and white. Seeing her reflection wasn't the only thing that made him drop the picture. He remembered that day on the lake. He had seen a shadow right by their boat. His father had told him it was only a big fish that was waiting Kurtis to catch it. Now that he thought of it, it had had a human shape. She had been there that day and he had seen her.   
  
He had heard of the Halls before he was sure about it. It was a story that his father had told him once. Something about judging the goodness of one's soul.Kurtis had always found it hard to believe there was something after death and thus had not believed the tale. He just found it hard to believe that everyone who regretted their evil deeds would go into a place called heaven. That they had told him during the religion classes in school and when he came old enough he had seceded from church. His father hadn't belonged in it either. He had wanted to give his mother the kind of wedding she had always wanted and because of that joined the church.   
  
Slowly Kurtis shook his head and picked up the picture and to his amazement found four new words behind it. In their simplicity they said all he needed to bring the puzzle together.  
  
"He is a Nephel"  
  
Karel was a part of the Nephilim. Lara had disappeared and Karel was a part of the Nephilim. Quickly Kurtis went for the letter she had sent in the package and tore it open. It seemed to be hastily written but its meaning came clear all the same. His wallet had been in the package. If it had been there how did it end to the Ruzyne airport? He had thought it odd then but now it felt to be supernatural. He had gotten a place from a plane that had been booked out almost in the last minute. He had been brought here to Lara's mansion. At the time he thought he had done so willingly but it had been a chain of strange events starting from the visit to the strange lady and the taxi.  
  
"What was the last thing she was researching before leaving to Egypt?" 


	29. Pursuit

Disclaimer: I don't still own the characters. I own none of the myths or artifacts appearing in the story. Only the plot.  
  
Thank you for your reviews. It's nice to know someone still likes this. I've never had more than three reviews per chapter so this is...touching. Hope you have as much fun as I had while writing this. Please review  
  
Pursuit  
  
Konstantin didn't know what Lara was up to but went through his pockets all the same finding not a coin.He whispered the piece of information he had gathered to Lara who became slightly frustrated after hearing the news. She neither had a single coin and they couldn't risk it going back to the hospital. Plus there was Karel to concider and the Halls of Doom of course.   
  
The Halls of Doom. She had forgotten about them. If there truly was a place a creature almost immortal didn't have the will or courage to step into how could she manage? After the Vault of Trophies it's not very big a deal, Karel had told her in the hospital. Hopefully this place wasn't built and designed by Lux Veritatis. The Hall of Seasons and the Vault of Trophies had been enough for a while. She had no idea why something so evil than the Obscura paintings hadn't simply been destroyed. Perhaps they were undestructable or then the Lux Veritatis members who had hid the paintings shared Lara's enthusiasm when it came to archaeology.  
  
"We have to find it before Karel", she said and realized she had said it aloud when Konstantin replied.  
  
"Find what?", was the simple question and even to his ears it sounded stupid.  
  
"Now ain't a good time to discuss it. You do want to stop him, don't you?", Lara hissed back to Konstantin who remained silent.  
  
Lara looked for the black car and when she couldn't see it she signaled Konstantin to follow her. After seeing it was safe she started to run Konstantin hot on her tail. Stealth could go to hell for all she cared about. She didn't have any idea where she was going but her main interest was to get far away from the alley, the hotel, the hospital and Karel.  
  
Suddenly she stopped dead on her tracks and if Konstantin had seen her eyes that moment he wouldn't have liked what he would've seen. She looked like a wild animal who just realized it had been caged and the feeling was far from pleasant. Her eyes looked at the slowly approaching form of the black car and felt the coldness taking her over. Her heart had to struggle for every beat and it felt like the next breath would never come. She hated the feeling. She hated feeling helpless and cornered but had come accustomed to it during her years of adventure. In her profession one had to be ready to face situations where the outcome wouldn't always be the liked or wanted one.  
  
Konstantin was able to gather his thoughts sooner and grabbed Lara's hand. First he got no response but as he tightened his grip she winced and managed to snap out of it. She went through the choices they had quickly in her mind and thought running away would give the most positive outcome. The only positive outcome.   
  
Frantically she searched the area with her eyes trying to find a place to hide. None was offered so she sprinted grabbing Konstantin by his arm.   
  
She didn't look back as she run. Konstantin wasn't something that bothered her now - she heard the man was following. Hearing the car accelerating and the tires screaming as they left a mark on the road made a drop of cold sweat run down her face. Her thighs protested against the sudden movement but obeyed her command.   
  
Konstantin kept his eyes on her back while running as fast as he could. Concidering the closening sound of the black vehicle it wasn't good enough. They had to get of the road. An alley, fore escape or finding a good place to hide would serve the purpose but he could see none of those close by. Damn he hated this. If this had happened a couple years ago he would've stood a chance but now he felt like his body was being ripped apart. To his shock he realized he couln't keep up with Lara's pace. He saw her glancing over her shoulder and stunned expression took over her face. It wasn't hard for Konstantin to understand the voiceless question on her lips and the answer was as easily readible on his face. He was too old for this.  
  
Lara had heard Konstantin falling behind. The sound of his footsteps had grown weaker. She glanced over her shoulder seeing it written over his face. There wasn't much fight left in the man and the rest was escaping from him in the form of sweat that so freely formed on his skin. This was the last thing they needed right now. Suddenly her mind was in the Louvre again running after the brown-haired man who had stolen her painting. He threw open the locked doors and made his chiruqai fly using his mind. She suddenly made a dart to her left and headed for double doors that stood ajar.  
  
Even Konstantin didn't miss the idea of her actions. Surely Karel wouldn't order his driver to enter the building with the car? Killing a few bystanders wouldn't cause Karel to stop but even he had common sense. If he told his driver to drive to the concrete wall there was no way they were going to capture Lara or Konstantin. Even if they were almost immortal they had to wait their wounds to heal. He spurted and ran as fast as he could toward the doors and when he entered the building he heard the driver pushing the brake pedal causing the tires to scream. Konstantin didn't care what happened outside. He concentrated on the doors picturing them closed in his mind..  
  
"Come!", Lara's voice brought him back to reality and together they sprinted up the stairs while the Nephilim fought with the now locked door.  
  
"Wait a moment!", Konstantin hissed and ran to the elevator. He pressed the button calling down the elevator. When the elevator's doors opened Konstantin pressed the button of eight storey and grinned to Lara after doing so. They watched as the light of the second storey button was lit and the elevator sent on its way.   
  
At the very same moment they heard a loud crash as the doors couldn't hold the Nephilim outside anymore. Lara gave Konstantin the so called 'What now?' look and the grin on the man's face disappeared. He pointed at the small dark place under the stairs.  
  
It didn't take long before Karel and his companions were standing there. No voices could be heard but the four of them were still communicating in some inhuman manner. They didn't stand there long and two of them stormed upstairs while the others seemed to go and search the basement.  
  
Lara was stunned. She wouldn't have fallen for it but Konstantin knew their adversaries better. She thought at least Karel would've understood that there was no reason in going to the top floor if there was no way down from there. This building was strange to her and she had never seen its roof. Perhaps Karel hadn't been tricked so many times. At least not by someone who was almost completely human. Maybe that was the difference between humans and the Nephilim. Others thought that death couldn't touch them and because of it didn't concider any other race as their equal. Human beings on the other hand knew death could touch them and didn't concider any other species living on earth as their equal. The difference was that the Nephilim thought they were the kings of the world while all the humans wanted to be kings. The difference was small but it existed. She was about to leave their hiding place but he stopped her. They needed as long headstart as they could have and he wasn't going to risk it.   
  
Few more seconds crawled past and when Konstantin thought it was safe they sneaked out of the building headed for the car. The black vehicle stood on the street end seeing it made Lara feel a little nauseous. She thought what the car stood for and who owned it. How would it feel to sit in something that belonged to the very things you hated? She didn't have to think for it long.  
  
"Shit. They took the keys!", Konstantin sweared.  
  
This brought a small smile on Lara's lips. It seemed that old dogs could lern new tricks. 


	30. Findings

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. Sorry if Lara's mansion doesn't appear as it did in the games. It's been a while and I can't remember did she have a study or not.  
  
Please please review if read.   
  
Findings  
  
Kurtis stormed out of his after Winston had told him where Lara's study was. The older man followed with much slower pace muttering somehing to himself. He watched the younger man hurrying through the upper hall trying to reach the study as fast as he could.  
  
Kurtis almost ran the rest of the way not minding the pain it caused him. Whe he entered the study he was greeted by a sight that made him stop. She had a library of her own. His gaze was fixated on the bookcases and the enormous treasure stored in them. He saw old books, new books, thin books, thick books, used books and books that looked untouched. Kurtis had never been a fan of reading at least not some dime novels. He had found the myths and legends interesting. None of Lara's books looked like they were brought here only for reading. They were her source of information, her channel to the world unseen by the eyes of normal people.   
  
He took a book out of bookcase very slowly like expecting Winston to stop him but the older man only stood in the doorway and looked at Kurtis. He held the book for a while looking at its thin leather covers that had suffered from the years of use. Obviously it had been dear to her...still was, Kurtis corrected himself. She wasn't dead, she couldn't be. Kurtis opened the book and on the first page faces of a elderly man and woman agreeted him. With them was a young girl who was perhaps ten years old. For some reason it was a black and white photo but he knew at the very instant he laid his eyes on her who she was. It was a scrapbook. He tried to make out the text of the article but years had taken their toll and only a few words could be seen. Kurtis didn't need to know about the early years of her life but he wanted to. There were only a couple pictures of her childhood. There were many empty pages that had apparently once held articles. Someone had ripped them of.   
  
Kurtis turned a page and found himself looking at grown-up Lara with an older man who the text said was Werner von Croy. Von Croy. Kurtis had heard about him, read about him. Wasn't he one of the victims of the monstrum? Lara had told him in Prague that she had personal reasons. Was he her personal reason? Quickly Kurtis went through the article which was about von Croy and her apprentice. He had been her mentor. The article didn't say how long they had worked together or how long they had known each other. Slowly Kurtis closed the book and put it back in its place.  
  
"Where does she keep her research?", Kurtis asked turning to face Winston who still stood in the doorway like waiting a permission to move. The butler simply nodded toward the bookcase nearest to him.  
  
The bookcase in question wasn't very large one but still contained lots of books. All of the books were neat although some of them had a sign or two from the touch of a human hand. They were probably in some sort of an order. He took a book from the bookcase and opened it. A letter written in beautiful handwriting stared back at him. Correspondence. He realised he knew some of the people the letters were from but most of them were from von Croy. All of the letters were treated  
  
with utmost carefulness and they looked like something from today's mail. He skipped von Croy's letters and looked at the latest ones. Ones she'd gotten before leaving to Egypt. Most of them were from friends or so he thought but they had received the same kind of treatment like the ones asking ger to retrieve certain artifacts. She had treated them with love she felt toward her lifestyle, love she felt for archaelogy. One of the latest letters was from someone from Turkey he hadn't heard before. At a first look the writer of the letter seemed to be a nutcase. He wanted Lara to find something that existed in one of their legends about the fight between light and darkness. The letter said something about betraying one's own race because of hatred. The handwriting was really messy but Kurtis was able to make the most out of it.  
  
The artifact the man had wanted Lara to find was the Shadow Katana. In the letter he said he was a collector but Kurtis doubted this. The Shadow Katana. No. It meant nothing to him. He had never heard of it. Kurtis couldn't let the letter be. Something in it bothered him. It was the land. Turkey. The Nephilim and Turkey had a connection between them. The Nephilim were based in Turkey. The question was had Lara found the matter interesting enough to research it? Quickly Kurtis laid down the book and started to go through the others. Most of them were scrapbooks but some of them contained her writing and sources. From the seventh book he found what he was looking for. It wasn't much. Just a small article of an ancient burial chambers that had been raided. What surprised him was the fact that the burial chambers wasn't located in Turkey but in Israel. The raiders had been killed by something even the most skilled doctors couldn't explain. There were some pictures about writing that they had discovered on the walls. It wasn't the language of the Nephilim. The words were in Hebrew. He himself didn't understand the language very much or to be frank never really tried to learn it. All of his childhood he had spent practising and reading languages long gone and forgotten like the one of Nephilim.  
  
Lara had translated some of the words below the article.  
  
"Beneath the darkened heart lies the shadow  
  
in which dwells the evil and destruction  
  
...the blade of the forgotten world..."  
  
That was all there was. Kurtis didn't know if it was all that had been written on the walls but apparently it was all that could be seen from the pictures. He turned a page but there was nothing about the Katana there. He turned the page back to skim the article through once more thinking he might've missed something but there was nothing. Not a slightest bit of information that he hadn't already read. It wasn't what was on the page that got him interested. His breath was coming out as steam again and the skin under his fingernails was turning slightly blue. He grasped the book as if he was scared to let go. His fingers were pressed tightly against the fragile paper. Something was laid on his hand and the disqusting feeling of coldness and death came back to him. It was death that touched his hand or at least the toucher was dead. Its hands cupped his chin and made him look at the page. Slowly like the someone was writing for the first time letters started to form making the sentences whole.  
  
"Beneath the darkened heart lies the shadow  
  
in which dwells the evil and destrucion  
  
the soul of a saviour carries  
  
the blade of the forgotten world  
  
in its hands is locked the freedom  
  
the salvation of the damned earth"  
  
"In the blade of the shadows lies the power  
  
in the heart of the monster lurks the truth  
  
the purest of souls shall claim the victory  
  
in the abyss of a heart   
  
shall the goodness glow  
  
and the monsters of old perish and bow"  
  
"On the mound of the crosses three  
  
the evilest spirits roamed free  
  
light came through the hand of the chosen one  
  
sending the beasts to another world  
  
the blade was strucked and one more scream  
  
filled the vile winds of destiny"   
  
  
  
He went through the text again noticing that the burial chambers were dated at the first century but somehow it was still linked to the Shadow Katana. Hell...he didn't even know why he was interested about the thing. He knew...he just didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that something long gone had reached out to him to deliver a message.  
  
  
  
The message was the poem written in the walls of an ancient burial chambers. After he had skimmed it through enough times most of it was clear to him. In the very first century this had taken place...and there was only one mound with three crosses. Golgata. He hadn't liked religion classes in scholl but he had at least heard that much. He did something he knew Lara wouldn't appreciate. He ripped of the page containing the words and the article. Guess it was time to visit Israel. 


	31. Construction Site

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I do own the plot.  
  
Sorry about the delay. I had hard time figuring this chappy out. Hope you enjoy it and please review.  
  
Construction Site  
  
She knew they had to run and hide. Fast. It wouldn't take long for the Nephilim to find out they had been fooled. She glanced at Konstantin who looked around for a rock or something to break through the car's window. Lara quickly moved closer to him.  
  
"Konstantin..", she started well avare of the fact that they didn't need more 'publicity' or at least get some by stealing a car. A car that belonged to the very being they were trying to escape from.  
  
"Not now Ms.Croft! Can't you see I'm doing something", he hissed back like Lara was the cause of his troubles. Then he got a rock in his line of sight and stepped toward it but something was stopping him. Something that had a firm hold of his jacket. He looked over his shoulder only to find Lara grabbing the old material of his coat.  
  
"You can't. They'll here it and besides we got enough problems already"  
  
"What problems?", he stated as if he didn't know.  
  
How could he? Lara had never told him about being hunt by the police and the man probably couldn't read her mind.   
  
"Like the police!", she snapped at him her eyes blaizing. "And stealing a car doesn't help us in that!"  
  
"The police?"  
  
Konstantin really seemed to be surprised. Lara sighed. Like the man wouldn't know what Karel had been doing all this time. Something in Konstantin's eyes told her she was right. He had no idea. She was brought back from her thoughts by a yell. It caused her to look at the highest storey of the building they had just exited and saw ine of Karel's companions staring at them. She grapped Konstantin by his coat without a warning causing the man to falter.   
  
It didn't take long before both of them were running down the street knowing that their existence might be dependant on the success of their escape. They heard swearing and loud running steps as the Nephilim exited the building. Lara glanced over her shoulder finding Konstantin missing. Damn it. He probably had found a perfect place to hide. Not having him as one of her worries anymore she sprinted to a near-by alley and hugged the wall looking frantically for a way out at the same time. The wall at the end of the alley wasn't so high. She could make it if she tried. She peaked around the corner looking for Konstantin and found the man hiding behind a bush of some sort. Karel and his companions were still arguing near their car not paying attention to anything that happened on the street. Human blood, human flaws, Lara thought to herself. Lara signaled Konstantin to follow her but the shook his head. He crawled behind the next bush. To her it didn't seem to be an excellent choice but acceptable at the moment. Her gaze returned to the wall and slowly she began walking toward it hugging the wall as doing so.  
  
The wall wasn't high and if she stood on her toes she could reach the top. It was a concrete wall but what made climbing over it easy was the fact that there were holes in the wall.. She didn't give it much thought before she climbed over the wall. With a heavy thud she fell on the other side. The wall had been higher on that side and it had probably been built to prevent someone falling to the construction site on the other side. The fall took its toll and she did everything in her power not to scream as she landed on her left anckle. She stood up but fell again as she tried to put weight on her strained anckle. She was sure it was only strained. It wasn't broken since she could wiggle her toes and move fer foot but it was swelling fast.  
  
The construction site itself seemed to be safe enough. It was surrounded by wooden fences. There were plenty of crates laying around and a few excavators too. Again she tried to stand up and this time she managed to do so. She limped behind a crate and sat down so no one coming through the gate could see her.  
  
How had it come to this? Her life had recently been more messed up than in all the years before it. First she had been thought dead then she had been thought to be a murderer. Not someone who committed one killing but someone who sliced up people just for the fun of it. Then she had ran across Kurtis who at this time was missing. At least to her and Konstantin. She didn't even want to think what had happened then. The kidnapping, finding out that someone thought dead was actually alive and kicking and running away with him from a monstrosity that can't be described with words. Now she sat behind a crate on a construction site wishing that none of it had happened. Well she wished most of it hadn't. There were some good parts but they were few.  
  
Minutes crawled by and nothing happened. She wasn't used to wearing a watch so she had no idea how much time had actually passed by. It must've been at least an hour or two. She stood up finding her anckle much more bearable. She could put a little weight on it but just in case she didn't push her luck with it. Konstantin. She'd have to find him. He had decided against running to the alley and climbing over the wall. He could back to his life of slavery right now if Karel had caught him. She swallowed hard. If that had happened it would drive a final nail in Konstantins coffin. Experiencing freedom for the first time in years and then becoming caged again would break anyone's spirit...or then it would give them hope.  
  
She limped toward the gate and peeked out of a hole in it. The road was silent and no cars other than parked ones could be seen. Slowly she opened the gate and stepped outside. It was still quite dark even if it was almost morning. Somehow Lara didn't believe Karel giving up this easily. He had had more years than human beings and they must have taught him some patience.  
  
When she came to a street corner she peeked around it and to her surprise tha black car had disappeared from the place it once stood. No sign of Konstantin though. She didn't take any chances so she didn't scream his name and wake up everyone who happened to live near by. She walked as silently as she possibly could across the road to the last place she had seen Kurtis' father hoping the man would've found a way to escape.  
  
"Ms.Croft", she heard someone whispering and tirned around to face Konstantin's eyes.   
  
A small smile took over her lips as she realized the man had been able to escape. It disappeared as fast as it had appeared and a guestioning look rose into her eyes.  
  
"What were the four things I said I hated?", she asked. Suddenly she had remembered Karel was a shapeshifter.   
  
Konstantin looked stunned. This was something he hadn't been expecting to hear and he studied Lara with his eyes for awhile.  
  
"I hardly got one thing out of you. If you really told about those four you must've done it while I wasn't listening"  
  
"Good", she just nodded. "We need to find the damn halls before Karel"  
  
"I know a place where we can start looking" 


	32. Jerusalem

Disclaimer: None of the characters appearing in the story belong to me  
  
Sorry about the delay but I haven't really been around that much. I've never been to any of those countries that I use in this story except Britain so please forgive me if the information isn't accurate. Thank you for reviewing and please, do continue.  
  
Jerusalem  
  
As he exited the airport he was greeted with a slight breeze of cool air which was a positive change considering Prague and Britain. Snow couldn't be seen but people didn't exactly wear summer clothes either. Israel. He had never been to the country before and didn't really like the idea of going but it looked like he had no choice. Of course he had a choice but it wasn't a nice one and the outcome of this particular one seemed to be better. For the first time in many years he felt he needed to do something. Not just because it needed to be done but because he wanted to. He had never had a meaningful relationship because there was an invisible treshold between him and the fantasy world other people lived in. He had always known that in some point he had to let go or tell the truth about himself. Letting go was easier and perhaps less painfull. Then there was Lara who didn't need to step over the treshold to his side. She too had spent most of her life on the side where the grass wasn't always so green.   
  
There was a difference between them. Lara had chosen her path of life willingly while Kurtis as the last of his kind had been ordered to do so. He had tried to avoid it by running away but the death of his father and some supernatural events had convinced him othervise. There was no other world for him but this one and from it there was no way out. He sighed and walked to the bus that would take him to his hotel. Mount Zion was the name of hotel if he remembered correctly. He had decided to go to the hotel, book in and be on his way then. He didn't have the time to linger and enjoy.  
  
The ride to hotel was far from pleasant since the bus was old and pretty cold. He sat tight on his place not paying attention to the other occupants of the bus because he couldn't quite make out what it was they were saying. He hadn't specialized in many languages. Kurtis kept his eyes on the road hoping the journey would come to an end soon. The bus pulled over to a parking lot in the old part of the city and the tourists rushed out of the bus with a speed Kurtis had thought most of them weren't able to move. It was amazing how even the largest ones could find this childlike facination inside of them. To them it was just another part of the world where nothing could ever harm their happiness. Kurtis sat and waited while the others exited the bus and slowly descented the steps walking directly to the reception.  
  
Little over half an hour after entering the hotel he exited it with many flyers about museums in the area stuffed in his pockets. The receptionist himself hadn't been able to tell Kurtis anything vital about the museums. Only piece of information he had managed to gather had been the adresses of the nearest ones. He had decided starting from the Rockefeller Archaelogical museum and could only hope that he would find a lead to the mound known as Calvary. If he had been a tourist in this country it would probably be the last place he'd ask questions about but now the information could save many lives. He had asked the receprionist to call a taxi which arrived a couple minutes after he had exited the hotel. He hoped the driver would now a bit of English.  
  
To Kurtis' relief the driver was educated enough to drive him to the museum. Without Winston there would've been no way that Kurtis would've been able to pay for this trip. The old butler seemed to have thought him a friend and had even had some strange glint in the corner of his eye. At the moment Kurtis hadn't paid attention to it but now that he thought of it he found it rather strange. Kurtis shook his head. Now wasn't the right time to think about something like that. He paid the driver and entered the museum with very little hope. He didn't really think it would be the right place to ask what really happened almost two thousand years ago at Calvary. He only hoped someone who knew was eavesdropping. The possibility to find someone like that in Jerusalem was minimal. Was there someone who believed something different than what the Bible told about the events of Calvary? 


	33. On the way to Nuremberg

Disclaimer: I still own none of the characters or the places in my story. The plot is mine.  
  
I thought of really finishing this story one day and probably can promise that I won't quit writing it. I'm sorry if there's some information in my story that isn't accurate. I've never been anywhere else than Gran Canaria.  
  
On the Way to Nuremberg  
  
It had been a terrible ride. First they had taken a train from Prague to Karlovy from where they had rented a car and were finally approaching their destination, the Museum of Public transport in Nuremberg. Lara had been afraid of crossing the border but the border guards hadn't said a thing. It got Lara's imagination running. First the police of Prague used almost every man it could to catch her but suddenly they forgot about her. They didn't even say anything about the car and Lara knew it wasn't allowed to cross the border with a rented vehicle. She had been about to say something about it to Konstantin but had decided to shut her mouth. What if it was the last chance to stop Karel and with one wrongly placed word she had ruined it?  
  
She shook her head slightly knowing that Konstantin wouldn't see her doing so. What if she had opened her mouth? Was it possible for Karel to find someone else to enter the Halls of Doom and retrieve the scales? What if he already had?  
  
"Why are we going to tranportation museum?", Lara asked quietly without looking at Konstantin.  
  
"It's not the museum but who works there...if he still does", Konstantin answered her obviosly not noticing how hopeless the answer sounded.  
  
Great, Lara thought. They're supposed to save the world but they're chasing a man who in worst case scenario can't be found from the place they were going to. No...the worst thing that could happen was that the Nephilim found that person first or somebody had sent him to see his maker. This just kept getting better and better. What if the man in guestion knew Konstantin had 'died'?She knew from experience how people reacted when they saw someone who they had thought dead. A fantom that had escaped the spectral world had come to claim its price - the very soul of the person who had condamned it. She had seen the look in people's eyes. The look of absolute terror.  
  
"What if he doesn't anymore?", she simply asked him knowing that the answer might not be pleasant.  
  
"If he doesn't...", Konstantin started not really knowing how to continue. It took awhile before he did "Then we'll have to figure something out"  
  
Well this made her feel a lot more calm. Wasn't there usually plan B? In this case even the plan A was full of flaws. She wasn't ready to let Karel win and get the scales. There had to be something that could be done even if Konstantin had outlived his contact.  
  
Konstantin kept his eyes on the road like he was afraid if he looked somewhere else he'd loose the control of the situation. That was something he didn't want to happen. His mind travelled different paths. It tried to remember how his son looked like but only thing he could remember was a pair of cold blue eyes. To him they had been cold. His eyes Kurtis had gotten from his mother but Konstantin had never seen them holding the same warmth he remembered blaizing in his wife's eyes. Had he been too blind to notice it?  
  
Lara watched Konstantin as he struggled with a burden she was unable to see. She had sensed it the very first moment she had seen him. There was a great inner battle going on and probably even Konstantin himself didn't know how it was going to end. Perhaps he was in a dar tunnel without a light, without a hint of the right direction. She found this thought disturbing for he might be a walking timebomb. She saw his hands tightening their hold on the steering wheel as he tried to stay away from the place in his mind he had been able to avoid for a long time. She had to do something fast or the man was going to drown. She said the only thing that she could think of. The thing that had been plaguing her mind.  
  
"You still love them, don't you?", she had never thought someone could simply stop loving their child. It couldn't end just lke that. There couldn't be an invisible wall to which everyone had to crash sooner or later.  
  
Konstantin looked at the road first pretending that he hadn't heard what she had said but answered when she asked it a second time.  
  
"I love her. There's never going to be anything in this world that could convince me otherwise"  
  
Lara looked at him waiting him to go on. She didn't want to push him so she wouldn't accidentally pull the trigger. If Konstantin wanted to tell her he could and if not...well that would just be another nail into his coffin or another rockk to keep the light away from the tunnel.  
  
"I love the image of him", Konstantin spoke only a little louder than a whisper.  
  
What was that supposed to mean? It wasn't that hard a guestion to answer. Lara noticed that this guy was seriously getting on her nerves and secretly hoped that Kurtis wouldn't be like that.  
  
"I mean I have never known him. I love the idea what he's supposed to be."  
  
This made Lara more stunned than she was willing to admit. Konstantin had just said he loved Kurtis because of his inheritance not because of him. 


	34. Museum Tour

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or places in the story.  
  
I'm sorry about the last two chapters. I know they were short.  
  
Museum Tour  
  
Still nothing. Kurtis sighed heavily as he exited the third museum. He had made sure he had spoken loud enough and if there was someone who knew something about Calvary the person shoud've heard. What were his chances of finding the place anyway? He was certain it was situated at least near Jerusalem but no one seemed to know where. He had heard at least of five different places. One of them had been on someone's backyard and Kurtis had thought the source of information couldn't be trusted. He had heard whispering behind his back many times but when he had turned around all he had seen was figures disappearing in the growd.  
  
He also knew the risks of what he was doing. He had been born to a world filled with information not meant for normal eyes. In that world lived the Nephilim, the beasts as his father had called them. Again he remember the words of the strange lady: 'Because all of us aren't monsters'. All of whom?, he asked from himself again. His thoughts returned to the Nephilim. If one of them had managed to hear him...but it couldn't be. He had been brought up believing that the wicked beings had lost the fight about their survival long ago. On the other hand, if Karel was still alive who knew how many of them had evaded the grasp of the Lux Veritatis? He knew that Eckhardt hadn't been nepihilim. Not like the rest of them. He had just been a human who'd been granted with more years than he deserved, more years than a human heart could take.  
  
He looked at the list he had gotten from the reception of the hotel where he was staying. There were a lot of hotels but only a few of them interested him in some sense. He took a taxi and drove to the next one. As he exited the taxi he saw a man reading a book leaning to a wall. If he had led another kind of life he probably wouldn't even have noticed the man. Kurtis tried to look like he hadn't noticed the man and kept on going. After a while the man started following him looking at the buildings as if he were a tourist. He took some snapshots of a fascinating building near by before he started walking faster.  
  
Kurtis was just entering the museum when he heard someone clearing his throat. He dropped a piece of paper and took a couple steps forward. Then he turned around and glanced at the man who had cleared his throat before pickin up the piece of paper. The man pointed at a small alley near by raised up ten fingers and walked away. Kurtis picked the paper and walked in the museum to ask his usual questions. The woman selling tickets didn't know much more than the ones before her but after leaving the museum he had six places instead of five. It was beginning to be frustrating. He looked around trying not to look suspicious and walked to the alley. He didn't need to wait long before the man appeared. He didn't stop as Kurtis had thought he would. When he passed Kurtis he put his hand in Kurtis' pocket so fast it couldn't be seen.   
  
After the man had gone Kurtis looked what he had put in his pocket. He found a small piece of paper only address and time written on it. After the museum tour this was the best lead he had. Now the only thing he needed to do was to find a way there. Perhaps taking a taxi would be too obvious. Would someone follow him? When he really started to think about it taxi wasn't too bad an option. They could follow him even if he walked. Might be there wasn't any them. Did the Nephilim even know where he was? He took a taxi and returned to his hotel.  
  
He had only taken his luggage to his room before so he hadn't had a good look around. The room was spacious with pleasant colors although yellow wasn't his favorite one. He looked around for ahile. The room had a personal safe but he didn't have anything so valuable that deserved to be put in there. There was TV but Kurtis didn't watch it that much. It didn't mean he didn't like watching it. he had never found time to do so. He sat on the bed and looked at the address again. He had bought a map of Jerusalem so he'd at least know where the place was. It took a while before he was able to locate the street. He had thought there'd be something but it seemed it was some kind of warehouse district and there was cemetery nearby. He picked up his hotel room phone and dialed the number on the map. It was supposed to be a number where tourists can call if they have trouble finding their way in the city. After a couple of minutes he put down the phone. The address belonged to a funeral home.  
  
He sat there a while that felt like eternity and went through everything he had experienced during last few days. He had his means of defending himself even against creatures such as the Nephilim. What if it was a trap? On the other hand it was the only thing right now that could lead him to the shadow katana. Would everything fail if he didn't go? Would Lara die? Kurtis found himself thinking about Lara again. What had happened to her? She had disappeared without a trace like the earth itself had swallowed her. He swallowed loudly. No...it couldn't be true. Many times in his mind he had imagined how she looked when she smiled. A thought of never finding out made him feel cold and hopeless. Made the world loose it's colors. He longed to see the softness in her eyes when she laughed for he had only seen sparks of anger and fear in them. Something so beautiful deserved to bathe in light.  
  
The words funeral home stopped his thinking about Lara. Why funeral home? Was it less predictable or just more practical? To his amazement he realized it really didn't matter. Not even if it was a trap. He just had to be ready to face anything. Even the end of his world. He took his chirugai but not his gun. If it really was a trap set up by nephilim his gun wouldn't keep him away from grave. He called himself a taxi and after doing that exited his room and locked the door. With heavy steps he descented the stairs looking at everything like it was the last time he would see. He took in the colors liike he hadn't seen them before.  
  
He didn't have to wait for the taxi very long and even the driver was friendly. When Kurtis told him where he wanted to go the taxi driver looked at him as he had seen a ghost. Then the man shook his head and told the closest place where he would drive. 


	35. Friends of Old

Disclaimer: Still I own none of the characters in this story.   
  
Thank you for interviewing godavari. Pleased to know you like this.  
  
Friends of Old  
  
She had a bad feeling about all of this and for a second she thought all the light was gone from the world. When Konstantin pulled over to the parking lot of the museum she felt like the doom was approaching. From where did these feelings come from? She stepped out of the car as soon as it had stopped moving. Konstantin sat a little while longer like he was afraid of finding out something he already thought was true. Slowly he opened the car door and stepped outside not noticing Lara looking at him slightly worried. She could've swore that the man's world had come to an end. He walked to the museum doors not looking around as if he was the only person in existence. He didn't care about the tooting of the car horns but walked forward like an invisible beam or the song of the sirenes was luring him.   
  
He opened the museum door and walked inside. Behind the information desk stood an olderly man with long grayish hair and symphathetic eyes. Lara could see the years hidden in his eyes. They were soft and understanding but also broken as if they had suffered too much pain during their existence. The man fingered some cards nervously and laid them down as soon as he knew he wasn't alone. He raised his eyes to meet Konstantin's who was standing almost right in front of him. The man stared awhile and Lara noticed a new look taking over his eyes. All the pain was swiped away and everything that was left was terror and despair. His face went almost as white as a sheet. There was a battle inside of him. A battle caused by memories and knowledge of the death of the man who now stood there looking a little older and weaker but still the same. Konstantin's eyes had lost almost all the power they once held, almost all the willpower once stored in them.  
  
"Konstantin...", the man began hesitantly unable to tear of his gaze.  
  
"Wolfgang", Konstantin greeted as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't 'died' some years ago. In his world it had never happened. The shocking stop that had emerged in the lives of those people who knew him and cared about him hadn't touched him the same way. To him it had been the gateway to slavery and the time when humiliation began. He sighed. Lara had told him the little she knew about the situation. Hearing about his own funeral had shocked him. What really lay in the grave? What was buried that day? They couldn't possible have buried an empty coffin. It would've been too light. There had to be something inside. The idea made him feel sick. Thinking about all the people he had known mourning for something that was in his grave gave him shivers. How could he tell them all that those years they had thought him dead he had been captured and caged like an animal?  
  
Wofgang kept staring at Konstantin obviously not wanting to believe he stood right there. Carefully he reached out his hand and touched Konstantin's sleeve. His hand didn't go through the fabric and the flesh. Whatever stood in front of him was alive. He felt the warmth radiating from Konstantin's flesh. Something dead couldn't be that warm. Something dead wouldn't be warm at all. He stepped away from behind the information desk and before Konstantin could do anything he noticed hands wripped around his torso squeezing him tight. Konstantin wrapped his hands around Wolfgang. Something wet began to spread on the fabric of his shirt. Tears. Tears for him. He kept the shaking and crying figure of Wolfgang in his arms offering him the small comfort that was his to give.  
  
Lara watched in silence. Somehow what happened with Wolfgang made Konstantin seem more human. Perhaps there was some light in the end of the tunnel after all. Something as small as tears had triggered something inside the man that had seemed to Lara to be a stone carving more than a living and breathing creature.   
  
As soon as Wolfgang was able to control the situation little better he stepped away and looked at Konstantin like it was the first time he understood the man was real. He remembered the cards on his table and the dreadful message written on them. Voices he Wolfgang had never heard telling him how sorry they were. In front of him now stood a man who needed to know. A man whose voice was more real than anyone's on the cards.  
  
"I know why you're here", The German man started. The voice was almost as silent as a whisper and he had to fight to be able to say the words.  
  
"You do?" Konstantin seemed to be fully surprised. Did Wolfgang really know about the scales and Karel? Was he Karel? No...that couldn't be. The Nephilim were good actors but he didn't know if they had an ability to cry. To Karel it would just be a sign of weakness. He looked at the German man whose face where still white and eyes red from crying. No...the Nephilim didn't have enough soul to cry. "Nikolas?"  
  
Wolfgang could only nod. He walked back to the desk and picked up the cards he had been looking at. He flipped them through absent-mindedly and handed them to Konstantin without looking at him. It didn't take him to realize what the cards were. Dozens of people had sent their regards regarding the death of Nikolas Kaufmann, the only cousin of Wolgang Koch. Konstantin felt his fingers clinging to one of the card; it seemed that the card was from someone religious. There was a cross and a little poem about death and meeting one's God. Little did these people know. For a long time Konstantin had believed that there was no God to go to. His eyes were fixated to the date which had passed several months ago. One of his dearest friend had left the earth and he hadn't got a chance to say goodbye. What else had changed during the years of his captivation?  
  
"How?", was the only thing he managed to ask.  
  
Wolfgang didn't say a thing for a long time. He stood there fingering one of the cards like it could bring his dead cousin back to life.  
  
"It happened one day he left from work", Wofgang tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably. "All...because...of...a...bloody...wallet"  
  
"Where was he buried?", Konstantin asked. His voice was shaking too and if Lara saw correctly there was a tear in the corner of his eye.  
  
"St.Johannis Cemetery" was the only answer they got. 


	36. Marcus and Sons' White Lilies

isclaimer: I don't own the characters of this fic.   
  
Thanks again for reviewing. It always lights up my mood when I hear someone likes this.  
  
Marcus and Sons' White Lilies  
  
Kurtis stepped out of the taxi and payed the driver who drove of as soon as all the doors where closed and he had gotten his money. Kurtis watched the taxi until he couldn't see it anymore. What was so horrible in this place that the driver couldn't take him to the address written on the piece of paper? The driver had given him brief instructions of where to go but he was still quite lost. He knew he was on the right street because the name on a placate indicating the street name told him so. What made him feel lost was the very fact there were no building numbers - not a one. he hoped it wasn't a long street and there was at least some sign indicating the funeral home. If this was so bad a place why did they have a funeral home there? Why did they have anything at all there?  
  
Almost all of the buildings in the area seemed ramshackled and of some buildings there was no telling anymore what was their original color. Surprisingly some of the buildings had survived the turning of the wheel of time. It reminded him of immortality; while other buildings grew old and lost their paint some remained in the condition they had always been in. He doubted that anyone lived here anymore but some of the buildings looked like they had had their share of love. They were colorful gems in the ocean of grayness. Years of abandonment had caused their state or was it the simple fact of life that nothing lasts forever. His thoughts were once again filled with the Nephilim race. They weren't immortal, not in the real meaning of the word. Immortals couldn't be killed. He started walking hoping he'd find the funeral home soon.  
  
He walked as fast as he could but still tried not to make any noise. It wouldn't do him good if someone was to overhear him and even if he wasn't a 'normal' human he could be surprised. There were lots of shadows on this street. Lots of places where one could easily hide and if it was almost dark like it was today a normal eye couldn't make out the hidden ones' outlines. Anyone could be hiding in the shadows and he wouldn't have a clue. He might 'feel' the hidden ones' presence like any human being. A feeling causing shivers traveling down the spine, a feeling that one wasn't completely alone. It revealed it's claws on the evenings like this hauling every traveler unlucky enough to its lair.  
  
Kurtis' eyes stopped on a window covered with painted lilies. The building stood out from its grayish and ramshackled surrounding. Its walls were shining with paint colored light green and it looked like they had been painted yesterday. Among all this grayness someone still cared about the little house enough to make it shine. That was probably it. Even though the sign over the door had seen better days the name on it was still readable; Marcus and Sons' White Lilies. If he remember correctly white lilies symbolized life after death or in some cultures just death. The name itself didn't sound very much like an ordinary funeral home. White lilies made at least him think something totally else than death - peace of mind and serenity. The door didn't look very inviting; it was made of dark wood, probably rosewood and the doorcnocker on it was painted black. Either the walls were just painted and the door had never been changed or the paint was taken care of royally and the door was brand new. Perhaps the door just meant the dark spot in death that people were afraid of. Just the blind spot in the painless realm, the last gate living beings traveled through before gaining peace. There was a small tilted square shaped window with glass that couldn't be seen through. Perhaps it could be pierced another kind of way.  
  
Once more he looked around still seeing no one before relaxing a bit. He took a step back and closed his eyes letting his mind venture away from his body. His farsee ability separated his mind from his body leaving the world of flesh and entering the weightless world. Like air he flew through the smoky glass and entered the funeral home. He floated awhile in the small hallway then entering the kitchen. No one was there and nothing seemed to be out of ordinary. He had seen hundreds of kitchens before and all of them had started to look the same. He exited the kitchen and flew to the living room which was nothing out of ordinary. Pictures of smiling faces on the walls showing something he himself had never had - a family. Of course he had had one but his mother was long gone and his father had probably cared more for a total stranger than his son. He had seen it in Konstantin's eyes - in his presence they were lifeless and dull but as soon as some of his friends was present the man was full of life and laughter. He exited the living room and went downstairs finding a small morgue which at least was something one couldn't find from every house hold. In the middle of the room was a table covered with clean cloth. Everything was metallic and a scent of some antiseptic liquid floated in the air.  
  
The next room was filled with different kinds of coffins. Most of them were metallic and only a couple of them wooden. Who wanted to be buried in a metal coffin? Was it perhaps another way to try and live forever or be sure if someone was to dig in the cemetery they'd find something to prove that the name written on the stone once belonged to someone? All these coffins made him sad for they were all meant to be someone's last resting place and the vessel for the little matter that was left behind. He floated silently to the next room and then it all went black. 


	37. Urban Legends

Disclaimer: No. The characters aren't mine and never will be.  
  
Urban Legends  
  
They pulled over to a small driveway which lead to a white garage and a brick house of the same color. Snow had covered the ground with its whiteness and for a moment the house looked like it was from a fairy tale: a place of happiness so strange to the world today. The magic was broken by a single sign peaking out of the snow. It had 'For Sale' written on it. The house had belonged to Nikolas when he was still alive. Konstantin had told her it had been his dream since his childhood. Nikolas had been little over ten years younger than Konstantin and for all the years this house had stood here he had dreamed about it's ownership. 47 years Konstantin told had been his age. He would've had a birthday four days after his death and now...he would always remain 47. In the memories of his loved ones he would never grow old and fade away.  
  
Konstantin stood there looking at the placate as if it someone who was trespassing his property, as it wouldn't belong there. The house was magnificent: not too large but in perfect condition and on beautiful spot. His friend had been dead over two months now. What was the reason the house was left untouched? He was brought back from his thoughts by a female voice.  
  
"Are you the couple that came to look at the house", she asked. Lara looked at her quickly when she knew the other woman wasn't watching. Blond, little taller than she was but she wasn't a looker. Of course she had sweet little nose and twinkling pair of blue eyes but those qualities didn't make one beautiful. Nearing her forties probably. Lara shrugged her shoulders and it was only then she paid attention to the words that had left the other woman's whose name was Gertrude, at least the name tag said it was, lips. The couple that came to look at the house? As far as she knew neither Konstantin or herself had called the woman and Wolfgang didn't know they were coming here. How did she know they were coming and what made her think they were in love? Gosh...Konstantin was old enough to be her father. Ten years more to his age and he could be her grandfather.  
  
Also Konstantin was stunned. Were they meant to have an appointment here or was it just too big coincidence? He hadn't called the woman and neither had Lara. There weren't much other choices to pick from and Konstantin knew Wolfgang wouldn't do a stunt like this behind his back, not now that he was back from dead. He knew the man too well...or did he? Men had been known to change totally in shorter amount of time although it wasn't the amount of time that caused the change. It was the amount of pain and all unwanted experiences that made one careful. It was all so simple: told enough of times a child would know not to ask candy in the store. He could only nod. After doing so he turned to look at Lara who just stared at him with her mouth open.  
  
She couldn't believe he had nodded. She had thought Konstantin was many things but boyfriend or lover wasn't written on that list. After a small shook of his head Lara understood what was going on and decided to play along. She turned to face the building as if she was looking it in a way she really thought of purchasing it.  
  
"You want to take a look inside the house?", the blond asked in a soft voice like she was afraid that she would drive the customers away.   
  
"That would be nice", Konstantin told the blond since Lara seemed to be unwilling or unable to answer.  
  
They entered the house and stood for a little while in the hallway. Ebony stairs led to the second floor from the dimly lit hall. There was a door leading to right, two to left and one directly forward. They didn't stay in the hall too long but entered the living room. Lara sighed. Even though she was a rose of British upper class breeding there were times she envied other people. She knew that most of the people she had met would've thought envying someone living in a house like this was a waste of time. No. It wasn't the house she envied, it was the the atmosphere, the feeling of warmth and safety that so easily was lost in a large house. Everything was in good condition but years of use made itself known when one looked at the furniture.  
  
Konstantin was nearing a shock state. Not a single item had been moved since the last time he visited this place. It felt like the time had stood still in this room and probably also in the rest of the house. One picture got his attention. There were four people in it, four faces he knew instantly. Three of the people in the photograph were laughing and the last one looking away like he wanted to be someplace else. Konstantin couldn't remember anymore who had taken the picture but it was clear that to one of the men in it the day had been something else than enjoyable. The blond woman was telling something about the house and the living room but it didn't interest him. There was not a single word of her lecture tore into him like the picture. When he turned around he almost bumped into Lara.  
  
"I ain't imbecile Konstantin", she whispered when the other woman wasn't looking. "There must be something wrong with this house or otherwise it would've been sold already. Don't say it's been built over Indian burial grounds?"  
  
This brought a small smile to Konstantin's lips.   
  
"Miss?", he asked Gertrude and received a deathly glare. Either she was married or she had something wrong in her main computer. "Mrs?" Konstantin continued and received a sweet smile and almost a whispered 'yes' like the woman was really afraid they would leave.  
  
"We've been wondering" ,he began and looked at Lara as if he was trying to find strength from her. "Why this house hasn't already been sold. I mean..." he never got enough time to finish the sentence.  
  
"Guess you have a right to know. Everyone else around here knows and you would find out sooner or later." Gertrude said quietly. "It's because an urban legend that lives on these streets. A legend that claims the house to be cursed but I don't have faith in those things".  
  
Yes. That was true. She didn't have faith in something she already knew was true. She had seen it on the faces of the dead man's relatives. Not one of them had come to get what the one passed on had left them. None of them wanted to touch his personal belongings and his next-of-kin, his cousin called Wolfgang, didn't want anything to do with the house. The cousin had ordered the house to be sold at any prize they could get. He would just be glad to get rid of it. 


	38. In the Dark

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.  
  
Thank you for reviewing. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
  
In the Dark  
  
The first thing he knew was the terrible throbbing pain in his head. If the truth was told he wouldn't have wanted to wake up. Not at least for a couple of hours. He blinked a few times and then came to the realization that he was in a dark room and apparently lying on a stone floor. He let his fingers travel on the rough and cold floor. What was this place? A cellar? It was cold enough to be one. He reached out and tried to find something solid but there were no walls within his reach. Damn. Cautiously he stood up and took a step forward his hands searching the air but finding nothing.   
  
"So you decided to return to the realm of consciousness, Mr.Trent?"  
  
The voice made made him stop on his tracks as if it would prevent the one who had spoken from seeing him. Had he made a sound or something that had told the other one knew he was there? There was a pregnant pause during which neither of them spoke. Thoughts were running through Kurtis' head and to be frank he felt a bit nauseous. Concussion was the last thing he needed now and he hoped he didn't have one. The next thing he noticed was a small source of light lit in the room where he was and someone put in on a table.  
  
"I am sorry for that. Sometimes I forget that not everyone are used to dark"  
  
It was a female voice. Definitely a female voice. He turned so that he saw the light emanating from the candle and a slim figure standing in that light. Her appearance shocked him: she had all white face with dark spots under her eyes that looked like they had sunken to her skull. She had no hair anymore. Perhaps they had been removed for a good reason or then they had died of old age. She looked fragile. She looked like she would break as soon as someone touched her and he could see she had spent way too many years hidden in this place. She was dressed in a long gown but had no shoes. A small smile took over her face letting some light into her eyes and for a moment Kurtis could recognize her as a living being.   
  
"What is this place?", he asked quietly. The room gave him the creeps and he had never liked the feeling. Nothing good could come out of it.   
  
"This my dear is my tomb", she answered her voice filled with sadness that spoke volumes to Kurtis. How long had she been here and how was she still alive? She looked like she would've died years ago. Perhaps in her soul she had.  
  
"Your...tomb?", he asked not believing the woman. "You could leave this place"  
  
"I'm afraid that isn't possible. It hasn't been in many years"  
  
"But someone brought me here! There is a way out! There still is the outside world!"  
  
"Not for me. To me it ceased to exist ages ago. It's a little glimpse of light in the end of the tunnel I know I can not take"  
  
Kurtis couldn't believe it. What stopped the woman leaving this tomb? He cast another look at her form that must be only a shadow of her former self. Could she survive there? He looked at the floor not wanting to face the desperation in her eyes.  
  
"Kurtis...", she began and he lifted his eyes to look in hers as soon as she called him by his given name. "As much as it saddens me I can't enter the world outside these walls and the truth is my eyes couldn't take the light anymore. Too long have I lived in darkness. Too many lifetimes I've spent here waiting for nothing without hope...until you came"  
  
"Too many lifetimes?", was all he could say and even that was said in a silent voice. "You're not a human?"  
  
She actually laughed a little and looked directly at him. "I am something your father taught you to hate. Something that he told was wicked and vile to the core"  
  
"A.a..a..nephilim?", he asked stuttering. No. It couldn't be. If she were a nephilim his life would be already over...and they were immortal. Why would she suffer from something that was so human? Why did she suffer from aging flesh and weariness in her eyes? "But...you...."  
  
"An immortal you mean?", she shook her head a little. "Immortality ain't the golden branch everyone thinks it is. It cost us more than could be imagined. It took our feelings but some of us managed to hold a spark. Perhaps in outside world I'd look like a normal human but here...no. Our skin is almost human. Like their skin ours too needs light" She looked the expression on his face. "Why is it so hard to believe? In a real world there ain't a thing called immortality. It's something cooked in the deepness of those human's minds who were afraid of death"  
  
He could only stare at her. There in front of him stood a being his father had taught him to hate. What she had said made him think that she regretted to be born as a nephilim and didn't think much of her kind. She sounded like she missed something she never had but it wasn't possible.  
  
"I've heard you are looking for an artifact called Shadow Katana."  
  
This brought him back to this world from the realm of thoughts and for a start he was at loss with words. Then he stuttered something like 'yes' to her not being able to meet her gaze.  
  
"I am able to enlighten you in this matter", she said slowly. "But you'll have to promise you'll do me a favor first"  
  
"A favor?", he asked rather bluntly before he realized what exactly had escaped his lips.  
  
"I've been locked in this tomb for too many years, too many lifetimes. I'm asking you to set me free"  
  
"Set you free? But a moment ago you said you weren't able to leave or didn't want to"  
  
"No. You'll have to slay me. Perhaps I've payed for all of my crimes"  
  
Kurtis coughed. This wasn't something he had expected the favor to be. He had thought she'd ask him to retrieve something to her or revenge something she no more was able to. Now that he began to think about it he weren't so sure whether he had it in him. Whether or not he could kill a being with soul that so much yearned to live. Yearned something that was out of its reach. He felt the piercing gaze of her eyes almost boring through him and silently nodded. He knew exactly what he was getting himself in to.  
  
"What do you know this far?"  
  
"Only something about a tomb under Calvary. There was a poem in Hebrew in a recently discovered grave"  
  
The woman nodded and let a sad smile raise to her face. She knew exactly who was buried under Calvary and she had waited almost two thousand years hidden in this dark place that stole away everything but the little spark she'd gotten from her mother. The little spark of hope that hadn't died while all the other feelings and thoughts had been buried somewhere deep in her mind.  
  
"An old tale tells that The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is build on Calvary but many have tried to find the spot and failed in doing so." She sighed. "As you might know there are a few places that are thought to be the the place of the crucifixion", she looked at Kurtis so long she got a small nod from him and then she smiled sadly. "None of them is the right spot. For so long have the Christians made pilgrimages to places that have no value to them." she kept a long pause before continuing. "There is an order which has kept the right place secret and this is my reward for belonging to it"  
  
What a reward, he thought. Locked in darkness for so many years for something she had thought was right was something a human mind couldn't comprehend but deep in his heart Kurtis understood her reasons. There had been martyrs before, humans that were willing to risk their lives for their cause. Someone said you can get everything with money. No. One couldn't buy a soul so devoted for something it thought was right. She was the first nephilim martyr he had ever known. On the other hand she was the first nephilim he really knew. Karel might be a martyr too but not in the real meaning of the word. If you considered him a martyr who else would be given that title?  
  
"Where is the tomb then?", he asked the question he really didn't want to at the moment.   
  
"At first it was only the mound that existed to mark the spot but then there was the crucifixion and the three crosses to mark to cruelty of a living soul. Many people met their end there in the hands of their kind" she said in a sad voice like she would really feel bad for the lost souls.  
  
"And...?"   
  
"You're asking about the Savior of the Christians? I do not know whether or not he lived and it ain't like me to waste a thought on something I am quite sure never existed"  
  
Kurtis only nodded. Almost for his whole life he had felt the like he had known not to believe in such things.  
  
"The order was founded to prevent them from finding and entering her grave. For centuries it worked to misguide the everyone who thought they were on the right tracks until it was no longer needed and I'm the last living member"  
  
"What about your employees? The very ones who brought me here?"  
  
The woman laughed rather coldly. "You hardly can say they're employees when they do it willingly and without pay. The members of the Lux Veritatis weren't the only ones who knew we existed. There were others who as willingly wanted to give their lives for their cause"  
  
When Kurtis didn't say anything she went on with her story. "A monument was build on the place for everyone who wanted to remember her, her deeds and her love" After saying this she turned away not being able to face the man standing almost right in front of her.   
  
Kurtis was astonished. Something he had thought had no feelings was very alike with the human race. Something he had thought was far from human was able to feel too. What had happened to the rest of them? What could've have caused their hearts to turn as black as coal?   
  
"Does this monument have a name?", he asked trying to hide the surprised tone of his voice.  
  
"The Church of St. Anne", she answered. "Named by her. By the name she wanted to be called and not the one she had been given." A little laugh escaped her lips. "Of course the Saint-part is to make the church more believable"  
  
He was almost shocked. While he had sat in a taxi he had driven past the building and had not given it any attention believing it only was an ordinary church.  
  
"Why? Why did you had me brought here while anyone who works for you might have told me the same things?"  
  
She grabbed the the candle she had laid on the table and slowly walked to him. She stopped so close to him that he had no trouble seeing her eyes. The deep blue of them surprised him. The color was so close to his own.  
  
"I wanted to see what my flesh and blood looks like" 


	39. On the Phone

Disclaimer: Simply put: The characters aren't mine. Only the plot of this story is.  
  
Thank you for reviewing godavari. It's nice to hear that someone still reads this and likes it.  
  
Do review if you read. I won't be putting a new chapter for a while if I don't get some reviews. I know that's bitchy but I don't care.  
  
On the Phone  
  
She had sat there for aeons or at least she felt she had. She could see Gertrude's mouth moving in slow motion and every word that came out of it didn't make any sense. It probably didn't matter anyway 'cause she couldn't remember anything wise coming out of the blond's mouth. Last thing that hadn't sounded like nonsense was the part when she mentioned the story about the house and Lara had hoped to hear more about it but nothing else had been said about the matter. All the rest had been about the house and how it had perfect plumbing and was painted a little while ago. She sighed and kept on staring at Gertrude or better said through her. Well...perhaps Konstantin would find something while she was suffering from the endless talking of the over-enthusiastic German woman.  
  
The saleswoman didn't seem to notice Lara's utter lack of interest and kept on talking without noticing what Konstantin was up to. She hadn't even noticed the man left the room like she was bewitched by the sound of her own voice or then something she was telling about the roof tiles had really gotten to her. Lara tried to stifle a yawn but she was pretty sure the other woman wouldn't have noticed. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with the house and all the people had left that they wouldn't have to hear another word escaping Gertrude's lips. She hoped Konstantin would find something and quick.  
  
While Lara was sitting with Gertrude in the living room Konstantin had made his way up to the study where Nikolas had kept all of his research. Nikolas' study wasn't large and there was only a writing table, one bookshelf and an old statue of angel with broken wings. Konstantin had always found the statue attractive in some strange way and he had always understood the name of the piece of art: Innocence lost. It could be seen so clearly. Every chip of rock that the sculptor had removed was removed for a reason. The marble statue was in perfect condition like all the years it had faced wouldn't have had any kind of effect on it. Only thing broken was the wings and to this day Konstantin hadn't been able to decide whether the sculptor had wanted them to look like they'd been ripped of or had someone else done it on purpose. He was sure of one thing - time hadn't caused it. There was a single tear rolling down her face and she was reaching for something that was left to the imagination of the one watching it. On the first glance someone might've thought the angel was burning to get back from whatever she'd been ripped apart of but if one looked at her face closely there was a faint smile on her lips. Konstantin had always wondered this. There was a contradiction between her acts and expressions like she would've known what she was letting go but was happy at the same time knowing she would gain something the ones who stayed behind could never dream of. She had made a sacrifice and knew what it would cost her but it was something she wanted to do in this world where everything came with a prize.  
  
Konstantin knew exactly what he was looking for. As long as he had known Nikolas the man had had a note book where he had written everything he had thought was something a normal mind couldn't take, something behind the border as he had said. Slowly Konstantin walked to the bookshelf but to his surprise the book he was looking wasn't there. All the books in the shelf were thick but the one he was looking for was thin with black leather covers badly worn because of use. He walked to the table and opened all the drawers seeing only pieces of paper and pencils. Nikolas had always kept his working table in perfect condition. Konstantin checked under the papers but didn't find anything. He knew for certain that Nikolas had never taken the note book outside this very room and now there was only one place where it might be. He walked to a small painting in the room,studied it for a moment and took it of the wall. He smiled to himself when the small safe behind the painting came visible. It was the oldest trick in the book but sometimes it still worked. He remembered the number combination and hoped Nikolas hadn't changed it. The safe opened with an almost silent creak but there was nothing inside it. Simply nothing. Not even dust or a piece of paper.  
  
He walked back downstairs and to the living room only to find Lara sitting on the sofa her face buried in her hands and Gertrude still telling something that didn't even seem to consider the house.  
  
"May I use the phone?", he asked. He didn't have a cell phone and neither did Lara. Both their phones had been taken away when they had been captured by Karel. What had happened to the phones then was a total mystery.  
  
Gertrude only nodded and kept on explaining to Lara. Konstantin wasn't even sure if he had the saleswoman's permission when he picked headphone and dialed Wolfgang's number. He heard the clicking sound when his German friend lifted the headphone.  
  
"Where is it?", Konstantin spat out as soon as he was sure it was the right number and the right person. "Don't! I'm sure you know what I mean!". He sighed and relaxed a bit. "The notebook" he said in such a low voice that Lara and Gertrude weren't able to hear him. The answer almost made him drop the headphone and he swallowed hard. "I see", he said slowly and put the headphone down. He stood there a moment collecting his thoughts and figuring out the next move. He closed his eyes and opened them again while walking to the living room. Hearing his steps Lara lifted her eyes to look in his.  
  
"Come on Ms. Croft. We've got some digging to do" 


	40. The Darkened Heart

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. Only the plot.  
  
Thank you for reviewing.   
  
I'm sorry if the facts in my fic aren't correct. I've never been to Jerusalem so I've never seen St. Anne's church inside and I don't know if the church is still in use.  
  
I know this is a bit late but I had a huge writer's block. I do hope you enjoy and please let me know if you do.  
  
The Darkened Heart  
  
He still couldn't believe it although he had known it more over eighteen hours already. There was nephilim blood in him. A part of him was something he had been taught to hate from his childhood. He had forgotten to ask her which one of his parents she was related to not that it would make any difference for the outcome was still the same. Perhaps he would never know. Perhaps it was one of the things that were better left unknown, hidden somewhere in the labyrinth of human mind.   
  
He had been forced to sleep over the night because St. Anne's church was already closed by the time he got back to his hotel. Without another thought he had let himself fall over the bed and had been asleep almost immediately. He had slept better than in a long while and woken up rather late this morning. He had used his free time walking the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem and when it had been closer to 3:30pm he had returned to his hotel.  
  
He had taken his Boran X from his hotel room and now stood in front of St. Anne's church wondering whether or not to go in. If he wouldn't go soon the church would be closed. The church itself wasn't very ornamental but he felt eerie standing in front of the building. It's magic wasn't created by large icons and gloriously decorated statues of angels and their battles with the darker side. It was the very feeling one caught standing near to the church and Kurtis had to admit he felt the same way when he was visiting his father's grave. Here as well as there he had the feeling that he was being watched. He turned around trying to see a glimpse of someone disappearing behind a building or fading in the shadows but he had never been able to see anyone. In the end he knew there were three options: there really was no one there, they could read his mind and hide quickly enough or they were invisible. Before the stay in Lara's mansion he wouldn't even thought the last option possible but now it seemed there really were invisible beings not bound by the rules of this earth.  
  
Carefully he opened the church door hoping he'd find someone inside. The church was dimly lit by candles leaving room to shadows and totally dark corners. He walked down the aisle and though he had never had enough time to study architecture he had to admit that the interior of the church was breathtakingly beautiful. The aisle was lined with pure white pillars and on top of them were painted pictures carved to the wall. There was a single, large painting in the church right at the end of the aisle. There was a woman in the painting but she wasn't the thing that caught Kurtis' interests - it was the carvings above the pillars. Each one of them portrayed the same angel in a different stage or at least Kurtis thought it was the same angel. In the first he had his wings, white and beautiful and he looked longingly at something beyond the borders of the painting obviously wanting to reach it but something held him back. The one next to it showed the angel looking down from the heaven admiring earth and all of its beauty. Stage by stage the pictures showed the angels corruption and his wings turning to black. In the last one the angel was desperately trying to hold on to a cloud while a demon tried to pull him down from heaven. The angel's eyes were filled with fear and they seemed to have lost the spark they held in the first picture. He knew what was coming and also that he had brought it down on himself but to the very end he fought against his fate. Kurtis knew the story portrayed in the pictures far too well. He had had all his childhood to learn it. It was the story of how the Nephilim came to be and how the angels who brought them into existence were punished. Doomed to an exile from the heaven cause of their lust and love.  
  
"Can I help you son?"  
  
Kurtis almost jumped when he heard the voice right behind him and turned around almost expecting that no one would stand there. He was startled when he saw there was a man standing there, a man in his late thirties wearing common clothes, and was secretly thankful for remembering to put his coat on to hide his weapons. Kurtis knew he was a priest from the way he had called him but there were no other signs of it. The man had once had brilliant black hair and now there was some gray in them. His eyes were green, warm and understanding. He wore quite large eye glasses and had a small beard.  
  
"Actually you can, father." Kurtis had never really liked the son-father language used in church but he was willing to give in this one time for he needed the priest's help.  
  
"I see you are interested in the art of this church"  
  
"Quite" was all that Kurtis answered. "Do you understand them?" he asked a little while later.  
  
"There have been many who have tried to learn their meaning but they've all just given up in the end"  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"I have always thought they portray the fact that innocence is easily lost and there is a little seed of corruption in everyone, even angels. There's something mysterious in them" Kurtis just nodded and let the priest continue "In the story they tell the angel realizes too late that he went over the border and desperately tries to repair the damage he's done. But there's no absolution for him anymore. He used his chance and ended up with wings as black as coal as punishment for crossing the line"  
  
Kurtis nodded again. "That's what I thought" he said lying a bit. He had no meaning to tell the priest about beasts called the Nephilim. He didn't need to know and Kurtis wasn't about to shatter his thoughts about the world. "What about the woman in the painting? Who is she?"  
  
"She is thought to be Anne, Jesus' grandmother. This church has been built on the spot where her and her husband Joachim's house was located or at least it's believed it was located here. This church was built by Crusaders around 1140 after Christ's birth and in the late 12th century it was turned to Islamic Law school by conquerer Salah el-Din. In 1856 after the Crimean war the Sultan of Istanbul offered the church to French government as a token of gratitude for their assistance during the war. The French government restored the church putting it as close as possible to its original form. Another restoration was performed in 1967"  
  
Kurtis really didn't need any history lesson of events that were true only partially but he let the priest go one if there just happened to be a hidden point in the story somewhere.  
  
"Today she stands as a symbol for all those women who in spite of injustice, suffering and death keep on hoping and passing on life"  
  
Coming to the realization that their conversation wasn't going to lead anywhere Kurtis quickly changed the topic.  
  
"Why is it that people have wanted to bring in to the light the mystery behind the pictures so badly?" he asked still looking at the painting of Anne.  
  
"Through the centuries the art of this particular church has astonished everyone who have stepped through the doors, even the art historians. The reason, I think, lies in these pictures carved in the stone and the tale they tell. There's nothing strange in the painting of Anne because this church is dedicated to her memory but the idea behind all the other art work in this room is very much questioned. They're not usual church art because they portray how even something so heavenly as the angel is weak in spirit and has flaws of human beings. Even more strange is the fact that God banished him from the heaven even though he's supposed to forgive sins if he is asked to and I believe the angel asked and even begged but still he wasn't judged in the same way as human beings with whom he had wanted to walk among. Some art historians claim that the angel in question was envious of humans' free will and for once wanted to feel something he wasn't entitled to. Someone has even said that the pictures should be read from the end to the beginning and so they would portray hope but then the question why is he looking somewhere so longingly remains"  
  
"So it is a mystery that has never been solved". It wasn't a question. It was just a simple statement. The priest just nodded as if waiting Kurtis to continue. When the continuation never came he decided to break the silence.  
  
"In the end it all comes to the very humane want to have everything, even the things that are forbidden" Noticing his mistake the priest corrected himself. "Mostly the things that are forbidden. It's about the little seed of doubt about grass being greener on the other side in each one of us"  
  
Kurtis sighed. "Are there any stories about this church? 'Cause I've always been interested in them", he lied a bit but thought that what the priest didn't know couldn't hurt him.  
  
"Strange that you happened to ask that. Some of the people who have worked here late in the evening have sworn they've heard voices"  
  
"Voices?"  
  
"Wailing, begging, crying soft voices filling the room. No one has managed to understand what the voices are saying but they've said that desperation and pleading are so evident in the voices. Sometimes they've been heard to scream so loud that the people had to seal their ears not to hear the sound anymore. The ones who said they've heard the voices said they couldn't sleep the few following nights hearing the sobbing in their heads. What I've heard is that the pain in the voices is so strong that some of the people who have heard it have had headaches and seen the angel cry" At this point the priest stopped as if to see would Kurtis laugh but to his amazement the American didn't even smile. When he didn't hear a thing the priest continued. "At first you might think that they have lost their minds but if you look at the pictures really close you can see the faint lines caused by tears under his eyes"  
  
Kurtis walked closer to one of the paintings but couldn't see much because it was way too dim but somehow he believed the marks were there. Perhaps the angel still did cry at nights not because of the pain in the voices but because of the knowledge that he had been one of the angels that had brought these monsters in existence and caused them their pain.  
  
"There is an altar dedicated to St. Anne in a crypt below this church and it symbolizes..." the priest never got to finish his sentence because he found Kurtis' hand in front of his mouth as a sign to stop him from speaking.  
  
Almost silent sigh filled the church and was soon joined by another voice which was only a little louder but the acoustics of the church made it sound like loud moan. Kurtis stepped back but found his way blocked by a pillar. The priest didn't move and stood where he was like a statue of salt unable to move. If the situation would've been something different Kurtis would've found the priest's way of action strange. A man who had taught all of his career others to believe in something that couldn't be seen or heard was now afraid because he heard voices not from this earth. Then something happened that neither of them had been expecting: A loud wailing and screaming filled the church forcing both of them to try to protect their ears. It was then when Kurtis felt something moist dropping on his cheek. First he didn't care about but soon another drop followed. In spite of the noise he moved his other hand and touched the liquid. It felt sticky and when he looked at his hand there was blood on his fingertips. Quickly he stepped away from the pillar and looked at the painting of the angel. Instead of droplets of tears the angels eyes formed droplets of blood. He turned around to look at the priest who stood there mouth open, hands on his ears staring at him or better said staring behind him, staring at the angel.   
  
Suddenly the voices grew quieter and both of the men lovered their hands to their sides and stood for a moment without making any noise. Only thing that could be heard was the almost silent howling noise in the background. As Kurtis watched the priest he noticed that the man's eye glasses were broken.  
  
"Erm...your glasses", he said walking closer to the priest and pointing at the broken eye glasses. The priest just stared at Kurtis as if he was air. It seemed that the man of the cloth couldn't really hear the American and Kurtis had to admit he felt a bit sorry for the man. The priest's world had collapsed because of one voice, all lost because of one damned voice. Kurtis reached out his hand and shook the priest's shoulder thus making the man look at himself. What Kurtis saw in the priest's eyes shocked him. The warmth that had resided in them was gone and his eyes were just staring in front of him. It was certain that the man was in shock. Sure that the man wouldn't know or even remember he took his Boran X and slammed it against the priest's head sending him into oblivion. Looking at the motionless body on the floor Kurtis felt a little sting of conscience.  
  
"Sorry but that's the best place for you now", he said and put his weapon back into its holster. He looked around anxiously trying to catch something little out of ordinary to his sight. "There has to be something in here", he muttered to himself. Carefully he searched the walls trying to find a lever of some kind, a mechanism that would open a secret passage. After he had searched a while he understood that there was nothing in the room, at least not on his level. He had tried to pull the everything that looked a little bit of lever ending in breaking a candelabra. He had even used his farsee ability to search the roof and upper walls. Nothing seemed to trigger anything. He was already giving up when he remembered the priest's words. Something about a crypt with an altar dedicated to St. Anne. Where was it? What had the priest said about it? Was it below the church? The door! There had been a door near the main entrance which Kurtis at the time had thought to be a closet of some kind. Now that he thought of it the idea of a closet in a church like this sounded very strange. He rushed to the door and opened it only to be greeted with inhuman shrieking voice what made him loose his hold on the door and cover his ears. He yanked the door fully open with his foot and descended the stone steps to a small room with a shrine standing in the middle of it. The crypt itself was round and somehow very distressing. In this place Kurtis felt as if death itself was present lurking in some corner just waiting its chance to harvest more souls. The shrine had a rock incorporated into it. In front of the shrine was an area surrounded with rocks and in the small circle inside the small stones was nothing except smooth stone. The shrine itself was a large stone that looked like it had grown from the ground. When he got closer to the shrine a loud scream filled the room forcing him once more to block the noise from entering his ears.  
  
He didn't know how long it had taken the screaming to stop but eventually it died as suddenly as it had began and again Kurtis moved closer to the shrine and especially the magnificent glowing stone incorporated in it. In some strange way he felt drawn to the stone as if it was calling out for him. The glow emanating from it was soft and filled with serenity the rest of the crypt so badly screamed for. Kurtis reached out and touched the stone's surface feeling strange warmth flowing from it in to himself like it had been waiting for the touch many years. At the same moment the warmth disappeared Kurtis heard a grinding sound as if something heavy was moved. He laid his eyes on the small circle of stones and gasped when he found out that the smooth interior that had been there no more existed. In its place was now a hole and stone steps leading downward. Slowly Kurtis let go of the stone and started to descent the stairs only to end up in a room with a small pond.  
  
The pond's surface was smooth and not a single wave traveled on it. What caught Kurtis' attention was the simple fact of the water being black. He crouched by the water and touched the liquid with his hand. There was nothing wrong other than the color and how cold it made him feel. Not bodily but emotionally like the water held so much evil in it. When he was pulling his hand away a shriek filled the room and a shadowy hand reached out from the pond trying to grab Kurtis'. He jumped backward not wanting whatever the thing was touching him. From his new place he watched as the humane figure slid on the little time ago so still surface wailing as if it was in pain. Soon it was joined by another such figures which in vain tried to get a handhold and climb out crying as doing so. It made Kurtis think that the water was either freezing or boiling hot. Was this the reason he had come here? For this he had knocked out a priest? He was already leaving when he remembered the poem and its first line.  
  
"Beneath the darkened heart lies the shadow"  
  
He turned around to see the pond one last time and for the first time he looked at its shape. The rough edges formed a heart or at least it looked like one to Kurtis. Beneath? Was he meant to go swimming in there? With all those things? It wouldn't be good for him but if he had to do it he'd better get on with it. Slowly he took of his coat and laid it down on the stone floor and after it he removed his shirt showing the thin bandage around his waist. Taking off his pants proved somewhat painful but he managed even though all that bending over didn't do him much good. Standing there in his boxers only he felt chilly all of a sudden and started having second thoughts about diving in the pond. He was Lux Veritatis damn it! Why was he so afraid of one pond? He took a couple of steps forward, inhaled deeply and dove.  
  
The water was cold and it was hard to see forward because of the darkness. Something grabbed his leg starting to pull it but he managed to shake it free only to find more greedy hands traveling on his torso. They were greedy for the life in him, life that they no longer had. They were doomed to inhabit the pond for rest of the times to come. Kurtis found it harder and harder to swim as the creatures were blocking his way and stopping his limbs from moving. Just as he was beginning to give up he saw light in front of him and started to struggle harder and he felt the creatures growing weaker. One by one they let go knowing they couldn't keep something that didn't belong there, something that was too strongly attached to life. Sighing in relief in his mind Kurtis swan harder to reach the small hole in the stony roof.  
  
He pulled himself up in a brightly lit room and yet he saw no candles. Where was the light coming from? What gave it the power to glow so brightly? He noticed he was standing in a small room much like the crypt was but instead of the shrine there was a table in this room. A table on which a woman lay unmoving but yet looking like she had died yesterday. Seeing and sensing no traps in the room Kurtis walked toward the table trying not to look at her. When he was by the side of her final resting place he laid his eyes on her face only to be shocked. Eyes opened on the table was the same face, the same woman who had looked at him through the window and let him inside the house in Prague. Her eyes were opened but they didn't see anymore. Her chest rose as if she was still among living but her mind made no notice of that fact. She looked as she was asleep but her eyes were opened. She was imprisoned in time, in a place where time lost its meaning and everything seemed to last for eternity. Looking at her he remembered her words: Because all of us aren't monsters. The truth in her words came crushing down on him.  
  
Sadly Kurtis turned his face away from hers and noticed something floating in the air - A hilt of a katana. Just a hilt with no blade. When he took the hilt in his hand he saw the blade. A faint shadow traveled from it to her chest and to the place Kurtis thought her heart lied. Looking at her one last time Kurtis began to pull the katana out of her body. As soon as the whole blade was removed the room where he was standing grew as it its power source had run out. In the midst of all the darkness he noticed a small source of light that soon disappeared and couldn't stop a small smile taking over his lips. All she had suffered because of her race was forgotten and she was forgiven for being Nephilim. 


	41. Spikes of the Sun

Disclaimer: Only thing in this story that's mine is the plot.  
  
I haven't been to St. Johannis cemetery so please forgive me if there are flaws in its description.  
  
Spikes of the Sun  
  
Night had fallen on the silent cemetery of St. Johannis and not a sound could be heard. Slowly the beams of light traveled the paths between the graves and every now and then stopped. Across the street stood a car and if one had looked at it one might've thought it was only parked there and the owner was long gone. In that case one was wrong. Away from the sight of passers-by lurked two humans - a male and a female. For over an hour they had kept the cemetery under their watchful eyes and been making a plan.   
  
"I still don't think this might be considered as a plan", the woman hissed to the man looking disgusted.  
  
"What is the difference really?", he whispered back.  
  
"The difference?"  
  
"Between this and your job or hobby or whatever you call it"  
  
"There's nothing same in it and this", she was beginning to be terribly annoyed.  
  
"Ain't? How does it make it different if they've been buried a couple of months or thousands of years?"  
  
She opened her mouth but shut it without saying a word. What could she really say? She hated to admit that he was right but she wasn't going to let him away with it so simply. There was a difference. If she saw it why couldn't he? The matter wasn't all black and white, nothing was, and she thought there shouldn't be such a way to look at it. In every matter there were shades of gray.  
  
"There's a difference but you're too blind to see one" she snapped at him.  
  
"I see no difference! They're both about disturbing someone's grave!"  
  
"At least my 'hobby' doesn't include digging up someone's freshly buried corpse!"  
  
He couldn't stand it anymore. She had gone on and on about how this what they were doing wasn't right. He knew it wasn't but at the moment their consciences were the least of their problems. He could name a few of them - Karel for starters and then those four guards on the cemetery. They had been watching the movements of the four people inside the walls of the graveyard and come to the conclusion that each of them had an area of their own to guard. As a last option Lara had suggested going for their weapons and sending the poor souls to the ones whose earthly remains they were watching over. Konstantin had been shocked of her suggestion but had realized soon that she'd been joking.  
  
He didn't want to cause bodily harm to the guardians but was ready for it if the need came. In that case he'd refrain from killing them. Being a Lux Veritatis he had seen enough death to last him for a small eternity. He had heard the screams and last words filled with fear begging for mercy from someone who didn't have the ability to feel it. Their prayers were directed to something with a soul as cold as ice, something that couldn't care less. He released his safety belt and turned to look at the backseat on which laid a large black bag. They, Lara and Konstantin, were the only ones who knew what it contained. He hung his head for a short moment. This was something he had never done before and it certainly couldn't be put up on a recommendation of any kind. Mentioning it wouldn't bring him friends either. The thought made him chuckle and before Lara could ask what he found so funny in the situation he had opened the car door as quietly as he could and stepped outside. He took the bag from the backseat and opened the trunk taking out two shovels. Without a noise and a look he handed the other to Lara who took it reluctantly staring at it as though it were an enemy.   
  
To her it nearly was. She couldn't believe she had agreed to something like this. Digging someone from their grave was against her principles. She hadn't told Konstantin that the difference in this and tomb raiding was that from this she could gain no glory or artifacts. This couldn't even be qualified as tomb raiding - this was simply disgracing someone's grave.  
  
Konstantin opened the bag and took out two ski masks pulling one of them over his face and handing the other to Lara.  
  
"Hide your braid", he said and the coldness in his voice startled Lara. During the few days she had known about the man's continuing existence there had always lurked something kind in his voice that had made her trust him but now all of it had disappeared. She pulled the mask over her face and turned to look at him. In front of her stood a puzzle with too many missing pieces and too many broken ones. She had always thought she was a good judge of character but Konstantin was surrounded by an ice wall. Guess it is better than one of fire, she thought and tucked her braid under her top.   
  
Together they crossed the street and Konstantin was constantly looking around glad that he saw not a soul. As inhuman as this what they were about to do was he loved being back in action. He had missed the tingling feeling that caused the hair on the back of his neck rise up.  
  
The wall around the cemetery wasn't very high and probably just a mark from where the graveyard began. On the other hand it was high enough to hide behind if one crouched. Very slowly Konstantin peeked over the wall only to be almost hit by a light beam from flashlight. He ducked quickly to avoid risking their mission and getting caught. He opened the bag and pulled out two cans of chloroform again passing the one to Lara while keeping the other himself. He handed her also a pile of rags and after doing so peeked again over the wall.  
  
The light beams had ventured further this time and the climbed over the wall as silently as possible.  
  
"You know what to do" Konstantin snapped at Lara not looking at her.  
  
She hesitated for a moment and then nodded. She knew alright. They had even agreed which guards she would take out and which ones Konstantin would. They grabbed the shovels and began to creep toward the guards, Konstantin toward the left side of the cemetery and Lara toward the right.  
  
Lara had to duck when she suddenly found herself in a beam of light but when no orders or yelling ensued she kept on going hoping that the guard hadn't noticed her. He was to be her first target. Carefully she peeked out to see if she' soon get her chance. The guard was standing there lighting a cigarette and soon the foul smell filled the air. She had to cover her mouth with her hand not to cough as the stench surrounded her. Still holding her hand in front of her nose she peeked again only to see the guard still standing there. This was her change. She opened the bottle of chloroform Konstantin had bought and soaked a rag with it not minding if she spent too much. After closing the bottle she rounded the tomb she was hiding behind trying not to make a voice. The guard seemed to be enjoying himself. He was humming and had no idea what was going to happen. She stood up from her crouching position behind him and didn't care if she made a small noise. Quickly she slammed the chloroform-soaked rag on his face covering his mouth and nose forcing him to breathe in. Soon his body changed to a rag doll and sagged against Lara's who laid the now unmoving man on the ground and continued on her way.  
  
Konstantin's first target was on the move. The guard walked peacefully making sure the light beam of his flash light reached every darkened spot in his area. It was obvious Konstantin needed to create a distraction He looked around only to spot graves after graves slowly disappearing to the surrounding darkness. No...not total darkness. There was a small source of light a little way away from him. Not quite sure what it was Konstantin concentrated all of his thoughts toward it, willing it to fall. To his bad luck it appeared to be a small lantern made of glass hanging on a hook outside a crypt. n front of the crypt was a large piece of stone put there as a ladder. The lantern came crushing down on the stone and the part made of glass broke to thousands of small shards. The noise ended the serenity on the graveyard alerting all of the guards and making them notice they were missing one of theirs. He had to act quickly so he opened the bottle of chloroform and let it flow freely on the piece of cloth he held in his hand. He picked up his shovel and left the black bag there rising as a shadow from behind the gravestone he had used as a hiding place. The guard never suspected a thing and before he could protest a rag was stuffed on his face covering his mouth and nose soon sending him to the oblivion.  
  
He had laid the unconscious form on the ground when he heard silent footsteps behind him. In one fast movement he grabbed his shovel and turned around putting everything he got into this one swing. The shovel contacted the right side of the guards head sending the dark figure to the ground. Glad over the fact that his part was complete he returned to the black bag, rummaged through it and discovered two flashlights. After all they needed to know that they had the right grave.  
  
Lara was in trouble with the last guard. She was crouching behind a tomb while she saw the figure standing almost in front of her was pulling something out of his pocket. She heard a beeping sound. No...not a phone, she thought. She had to act now. Not giving it a greater thought she stood up to meet him. The guard heard her steps and turned around only to see a bottom of her boot aiming to his face before darkness claimed him. Lara crouched beside the now fallen man to check whether or not he still breathed. He did and his pulse was strong and it seemed to her that nothing else was wrong with him than his broken nose. She glanced around to see a blinking beam of light pointed almost directly at her and started jogging toward it. It was their sign when the 'job' was complete but during all the fuss Konstantin had not given her a flashlight and she had forgotten to ask for one.  
  
He was still standing there where he had defeated the last of the guards when he heard her approaching footsteps. He smiled and raised his eyes to meet hers offering her a flashlight. Her foot met something soft lying on the ground and she took the offered item eagerly wanting to see what was the thing her boot had made a contact with. On the ground laid a young brunette woman and Lara could see blood caking on the right side of her head. She shot an accusing glare to Konstantin only to see a shrug of shoulders and a look that told her he had not checked whether she was alive or not. Lara crouched to test her breathing an pulse not finding either one. She heard Konstantin swallowing hard.  
  
He was shocked to see who was in Lara's flashlight's light beam - a woman in her late twenties. In the dim glow he could see her almost childlike features, her soft peachy skin and her lovely green eyes staring somewhere where only darkness could be seen. It could be seen that he had used all his strength to swing the shovel. The right side of her skull was now re-shaped not remaining human head anymore. He crouched beside the dead woman and slowly removed the hair from her forehead. Outside he showed no emotions but inside he cried for the lost life that had just began to blossom and stared at her still form for awhile seeing life escaping her still so very lifelike body and death tightening its hold. He hadn't killed an innocent person before. He knew she was innocent of the crimes he had the power to punish for. He grabbed his shovel which's blade was now partly dark red in the dim light.  
  
"We have better things to do than sit here and mourn something we have no power over" he said and stood up not able to look at her corpse anymore.  
  
Lara couldn't believe what she was hearing. Konstantin acted like none of this could touch him, like he didn't care about what he had done. Gently she closed the dead woman's eyelids hoping that she would find the light in the end of the tunnel. She grabbed her flashlight and shovel and stood up. She pointed the light to Konstantin.  
  
"So mister 'lets not kill anyone'" Lara waited for a moment just to let the words sink in to his mind and was rewarded with a slightly angry glare. "What shall we do next?"  
  
Although he didn't show it most of his thoughts were about the woman laying on the ground, him hearing her last steps and the sound what was heard when the shovel contacted her skull. He thought of her getting to work today and changing on the uniform not knowing that the night would be her last. Not knowing it all would end so abruptly. He thought of the few seconds that had caused the dead woman's world to stop for eternity.  
  
"Searching the grave would be essential", he answered her question and made Lara feel herself stupid.  
  
"What was his surname?"  
  
"Kaufmann", was the short reply.  
  
She nodded and they began their search. Lara jogged pointing her flashlight to the names on the gravestones while Konstantin walked like there was no worry in the world. He studied each of the stones for a moment before continuing his journey. All he could see here was the cruel fact of life: everyone was going to die and there was no stopping it. He was brought back from his thoughts about ten minutes later when Lara informed him that she had found the grave by blinking her flashlight at him.   
  
She had stopped in front of a grave staring at the stone that told that Konstantin's friend indeed rested there. It didn't take long for Konstantin to be there since he hadn't ventured that far. He looked at stone and the little epitaph written on it. When there was no one to remember you all that is left are the word written in granite, he thought. A few nice words perhaps to let the ones who visit the cemetery in future know what kind of personality and human being was called by the name on the stone. In the end they were just empty words for no one could capture the essence of one's spirit.  
  
"Well..." Lara started. "What are we waiting for". Although she tried to sound excited none of it could be heard in her voice. Konstantin just took his shovel numbly and started to remove the sand that rested above his friends coffin.  
  
It took them several hours until their shovels hit something else than dirt and a little while longer to uncover the coffin that had already began to decompose. Lara stopped and moved a way from the coffin.  
  
"Your friend. You can have the honor", she said almost silently not wanting to disturb the peace of the grave any more than she had to.   
  
She could see that Konstantin hesitated. He stood there like a statue not wanting to move toward the casket that held his friend's earthly remains. He closed he eyes like trying to force the idea of what he was doing out of his head and simply gain the control of his body again. He stepped toward the coffin and without looking opened the lid. He wrinkled his nose as the smell attacked his nostrils and he could feel the bile rising in his throat.  
  
Lara didn't want to watch and turned away. She had started to feel nauseous because of the smell and really didn't need to see the body.  
  
Konstantin stared at the sight before him. If he looked really carefully he could just and just identify the corpse as Nikolas although the body had decomposed some. Under the corpses fingers laid a book with worn black leather covers. To Konstantin's surprise it wasn't in the same state as the body. Not looking he reached down to grab the book as if he was afraid the corpse might grab his hand. Feeling the rotting flesh under his fingers he opened his eyes and pulled the book out. Under it was a round metallic object. Careful not to touch the body's flesh again he removed the article from the coffin and closed the lid. He looked at the object in his hand and to him it reminded the kind of sun children usually draw.  
  
"Come on. Lets get out of here" he said as he put the objects in the black bag. 


	42. Questions

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, only the plot.  
  
Thanks very much for reviewing this story and I hope you'll still like it. Feedback is always appreciated.  
  
Questions  
  
There he stood again in the dark tomb. He had been collected from his hotel, blindfolded and chauffeured to this place. During the car ride he had tried to listen the sounds of the surrounding scenery like it would've helped him in knowing where he was being taken. This time they had been more gentle in their efforts to bring him to the tomb and no visit to the oblivion was needed. He didn't have any idea how much time had passed during him being blindfolded but to him it had seemed like a small eternity.  
  
The woman sat on a table and looked at him with sad eyes knowing what was going to happen, knowing that she had been waiting for this for years. Finally her task was complete. She had been ordered to be the beacon in the dark to the chosen one, to show a faint glow of hope when it seemed not to exist anymore. She had been ordered to show him there were shades of gray. Her eyes lingered for a moment capturing his features like she wanted to take a mental picture of him to where he couldn't follow her before they moved to look at the hilt the man in front of her held in his hand. She swallowed. Now that it was the time she was no longer certain if she really wanted it but she knew it needed to be done.  
  
Kurtis fingered the hilt of the katana nervously. He wasn't going to slay her, not yet for he had some questions he desperately needed an answer to and on the other hand he didn't really wait for getting to kill. He didn't really want to.  
  
She stood up not facing him anymore for she found it too hard to look into his eyes afraid what she would see in them. She wasn't afraid of seeing hatred or anger, she knew she wouldn't see them. She didn't want to see sadness caused by the ending of her existence in his eyes. There was nothing to grieve over in her.   
  
He watched her moving closer her eyes fixated to the floor like there was something interesting going on. He knew the real reason. She had a date with death she had arranged herself and knowing the exact time of her departure wouldn't make it easier. Kurtis had never thought one day he'd meet a nephilim who offered to be the scabbard of a sword willingly. He had always imagined them as vile beasts, freaks of nature, that should've never been created and now he was looking at one who gave up here life by her own choice. His fingers' hold on the katana hilt tightened.  
  
"What are you waiting for" she asked in a voice almost as silent as a whisper still not looking at him.  
  
"I figured you could have it as a reward". It was hard for him to understand why saying those few words was so difficult. They made him sound like a heartless monster much like he had thought the nephilim to be. Perhaps something monstrous inherited from one of his parents remained in him only to rise its ugly head on occasions like this one. He squeezed his eyes shut wanting to flee from the tomb and the task in front of him.  
  
"Reward for what?"  
  
"You could answer a few questions"  
  
She nodded and this time raised her eyes to meet his. "I'll do it if you do me one last favor"  
  
"And that is...?"  
  
"I'll tell you when it's the time"  
  
Kurtis nodded not knowing what he was agreeing to. It was like granting the condemned the last wish. It was a humane act and the least he could do. She smiled a bit but on her white face it seemed as a forced smile. All the feelings that usually caused a person to smile were missing from that particular expression on her face. It was a sad smile, a smile of someone who was giving up and while it lingered on her face it made Kurtis hate himself. The spark existed in her but she wanted to smother it before it could fully blossom. Kurtis waited for a moment as if he wanted to make sure she was pleased with their agreement. When she said or did nothing he began by digging the two photos from his wallet and handing them to her. He could hear her sharp intake of breath and see her touching something in one of the photographs.  
  
She couldn't control her want to touch her daughter's face in the black and white picture she held in her hand. In the picture she appeared just as the pale woman remembered her. Beside her daughter stood her son-in-law. The nephilim woman smiled seeing him the first time. She had heard of him from his helpers but had told them not to take pictures not wanting to get his attention. There was so much same in him and Kurtis and it seemed the only thing Kurtis had inherited from his mother was his eyes. In them she could still see her daughter and the same warmth that had once inhabited her own eyes. She looked up from the pictures a strange expression on her face.   
  
"I know who they are...", the American man started. "Someone tried to contact me through them a few days ago..."  
  
She glanced at her daughter's features once more. "And you want to know who"  
  
She received a nod.  
  
"I can only tell you that the person must've crossed the line to the other side, to the world of shadows..."  
  
"You mean something like heaven?"  
  
"Limbo..."  
  
Kurtis stared at her not wanting to believe her words "H-how?" he managed to stutter out.  
  
"How one ends up in limbo? I have heard there might be four reasons. The soul is too hard to judge because it's good and evil deeds weight as much in the scales. Not many end up in limbo because of this. Good and evil rarely negate each other leaving nothing to judge behind them and some acts are too cruel to forgive even if the person has dedicated his or her whole life before or after the act to goodness. A soul can also be banished to the limbo which is done usually by strong black magic. This has been used as a punishment among some tribes. Often it is just meant to scare the tribe members and the spells have really no effect. The limbo can be a prison of the mind as well when the other ways of punishing seem too mild. The fourth one is the saddest case. In it the soul can not be judged because there's a link between it and the world of living. Usually their bodies are still alive not holding their spiritual essence anymore." She held a little pause. "Many have often thought where do the souls of brain dead people travel when their bodies can not hold them anymore. No one can say for sure but as long as their bodies remain the souls are not judged. There are items in existence that can send a soul to the limbo"   
  
After she said this she looked at the hilt of the Shadow Katana. Kurtis didn't need to think twice to get the message. He wielded one of those items. He had pulled it of the heart of the woman in the crypt under St.Anne's church thus letting her soul be judged.  
  
"The shrine. How did I get in? There must've been thousands who have touched the stone embedded to it"  
  
"The thousands weren't you. Through the veins of the ones who build the shrine flowed the blood of the Nephilim race. Only in our touch lies the force to open the stony gate" Once again she eyed the hilt of the Shadow Katana "To wield the katana is needed a nephilim spirit that has never harmed other life forms in the way the original Nephilim."  
  
"Near Anne's crypt there was this pool filled with black water..." he never got to finish his question.  
  
"And shadows in human forms?" When she got a nod from him she continued looking away as she was ashamed.. "You saw a limbo of a sort. Banished from heaven and not wanted in hell the angels and their offspring needed a place to spend the eternity after their deaths. A katana was forged and it's blade carried the same shadowy material than their...our spiritual forms. The soul of the first of us was trapped in the blade for eternity to come."  
  
"Us?"  
  
"Dissident nephilim. The legend tells that he grew bored of seeing the destruction and agony caused by his kind and found a way to contact Hephaestus, the smith of the gods in the Greek mythology. He asked the smith to forge a sword powerful enough to send the nephilim to a place of eternal suffering and for this deed he'd give the god his soul. The god needed not such a worthless thing but forged the soul in to a katana that held the power to destroy the ones who couldn't be killed as the nephilim's punishment. The katana is a key to a door that can not be opened from the inside. It imprisons the souls fed to it in to the pond making it their last resting place"  
  
"But...they grabbed me by my foot!"  
  
"For a moment you stepped to their territory, to a realm not from this world. The souls don't hold enough power to flee their punishment but for a moment they can gather enough strength to collect any unfortunate spirit that makes the mistake to venture into their midst. It only lasts for an infinitesimal moment so anyone who believes they're not drowning that day will survive"  
  
Kurtis stayed quiet for a small moment thinking of what she had just told him. He fingered the hilt of the Shadow Katana nervously pondering what he would ask next. Suddenly he remembered the woman in Prague.  
  
"I saw Anne in Prague and yet she laid in the crypt with this in her heart...how is it possible if they're supposed to be in limbo?"  
  
"For that I have no answer. Perhaps there was something in Anne that wasn't supposed to be there, something so unlike nephilim that she couldn't be judged as one. Maybe there was something in her spirit that the katana couldn't grasp."  
  
Kurtis sighed. He had loads of questions he wanted an answer for but somehow he knew there wasn't time for each of them.   
  
"Who is Karel?"  
  
He could see something fearful in her eyes, something that he hadn't seen before but it existed only for a second or two. "I suppose you know as much of him as I do"  
  
"I only know his name and that he is a nephilim"  
  
"I have never met him myself and for that I've always been grateful. The stories that have reached my ears describe him as a heartless monster, much like your father thought every nephilim would be. Stories are all that I have heard of him but they're enough to make me wish he wouldn't exist"  
  
"And the Halls of Doom?"  
  
"The Halls of Doom?" she sounded shocked. "Oh no. You must stop him from entering them for only a few knows what lies in their depths and that something should never have been created. If he can retrieve the scales the world will no longer know the concept of free will"  
  
"Knowing where they're located would of course help"  
  
"Do not worry for I have taken the freedom to book you a plane ticket there. You do not need my help in finding the Halls. Look into your heart for the same blood flows through it as the one's who hid the scales"  
  
Kurtis nodded slowly. "Who are you?"  
  
She swallowed hard before answering. "Your grandmother...from your mother's side"  
  
"No! She was killed in an accident!"  
  
"No she wasn't. She lived on underground patiently waiting for someone who could fight her battle for she was too weak for it."  
  
Kurtis didn't look at her anymore. "One last question. If you are who you claim to be...what was she like?"  
  
"Of all of us she reminded the ones we had developed from the most. She had no interest to carry on our case and more than anything she wanted to live a human life." She chuckled a bit before continuing. "They say that there's someone for everyone. Isn't it ironical that it took almost two thousand years for her to find that person and she knew she couldn't keep him forever?" She looked at Kurtis to see him frowning. "She stayed with him for ten years knowing the whole time that the day she'd have to leave him would come."  
  
Suddenly it dawned to Kurtis. "She couldn't grow old..."  
  
"Yes. I could tell you how she was my angel but almost all mothers love their children even if they'd be monsters but I know that isn't what you want to hear. I can't explain her motives of leaving you too but my guess is that she wanted to leave something of her to him"  
  
Kurtis was in deep thought. If his mother couldn't grow old could he or would he be forced to walk on this earth for an eternity to come? If he was supposed to destroy Karel would he be the last of the Nephilim or was there more of them? Did the souls of all the others reside in that dark-watered pool? Would he be given the same retribution or was his soul to rest in peace after his death? Her voice brought him back from his thoughts.  
  
"One day, almost 26 years ago she stepped into a taxi and was never seen again. She disappeared with no trace like her whole existence had been a dream and the only places she still lived were your father's mind and mine."  
  
"You wanted a favor...?" He was almost afraid to ask this not sure what she had chosen to ask of him.  
  
"I would like to hold my grandson even if it was for only one time"  
  
In this Kurtis saw nothing wrong and stood sill waiting her to wrap her arms around him. He could feel the warmth emanating from her body through their clothes.   
  
At that moment she wished more than ever that she'd been a human being. She had always been envious of their race. Not because of their inventions or their development but because of their feelings. She wished that she could shed tears but her eyes knew nothing about that. She let him go slowly and looked straight at him.  
  
"Aim to the heart for in it the goodness lies" she spread her hands waiting him to strike.  
  
He tightened his grip on the hilt and in his mind he begged for forgiveness for what he was about to do. With one fluent movement he struck only to notice it required no strength. The blade was eager to be fed with yet another soul of the race that should never have been. It slid through her body with ease like there was no flesh to pierce. Kurtis only heard a small sigh as the blade made a connection with her heart and her body went limp. As he pulled out the sword a bright light filled the tomb. 


	43. The Notebook, part 1

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story are mine. This is a piece of fan fiction and no profit is being made  
  
Thank you for reviewing godavari. It gave me will to write the next chapter.  
  
The Notebook, part 1  
  
A little while later Lara and Konstantin stepped out of the car in front of the Hotel Maximilian. The hotel was located just outside the historic old town district. Lara looked at the three stars over the main door. To her they didn't mean so much. Of course more stars meant more class but during her travels she had seen all kinds of hotels and to be truthful she had to admit that it wasn't only the stars that mattered. It needed more than a pretty cover and seemingly nice staff to make a hotel comfortable. Sadly that pretty cover was the only thing that met the eye at first.  
  
They entered the hotel coming to a rather small lobby. The walls were painted in warm color of peach and made the visitor feel him-or herself calm and safe. There was a table and three chairs on the left. Near the table and the chairs was a single yucca palm bringing much needed color to the room. One of the walls was colored with colorful tapestry displaying the beheading of a young man. The man still had his head but Lara was sure she was right about its meaning. Under the tapestry was written in stitching 'Maximilian of Thebeste'. The name told nothing to her or Konstantin but the theme of the tapestry took a large bite of the calm feeling the rest of the lobby managed to create. Lara felt greatly disturbed by the tapestry and looked away from it. On the right and reception desk on the left and behind it stood an elderly man looking very tired.  
  
"How may I help you?" he asked and smiled a little. Perhaps his face muscles were tired of all the smiling that was a part of his job.  
  
Konstantin was about to speak but Lara stopped him with a hand signal.  
  
"We would like to have two rooms"  
  
The receptionist looked through his computer hitting multiple keys on his keyboard shaking his head while doing so.  
  
"I am deeply sorry but we seem to be low on rooms. There are only double rooms available. All the others got guests at the moment or are booked in the way they should be"  
  
Lara looked at Konstantin who seemed as annoyed as she did. What she didn't know was the reason of Konstantin's annoyance. He was almost boiling inside. Of all the receptionists they had to get the one who is probably going to retire soon and has decided to act poorly. On the other hand he didn't mind Lara's company.  
  
"Do they have a sofa?", asked an annoyed voice beside him. The receptionist just nodded.  
  
They paid for one night and were climbing up the stairs when Konstantin turned around much to the surprise of the receptionist.  
  
"I just have to ask...who is he?", said Konstantin pointing at the tapestry.  
  
The receptionist sighed deeply. It seemed it was better to take the tapestry down than let it be on the wall. Too many people found it interesting and he had grown bored of telling about it to people who asked endless litanies of questions. For some reason he himself had always found it disturbing in some strange way like it was blaming him for something or the people in it were looking at him when he wasn't watching.  
  
"He was a man who got martyred near Carthage around 300AD. He refused to enter the army because of his Christianity and thus he was beheaded"  
  
Knowing he wouldn't get more information from the man Konstantin kept on climbing the stairs Lara following close behind. Their room appeared to be on the second floor and the sight of it gave some points back to the hotel. The walls were white and all the furniture were some shade of yellow or brown. There were two rooms actually. A small wall separated the bed from the rest of the room. Against the wall stood an old-looking table and next to it was a chair of same style. Over the table hung a strange shaped mirror and next to it stood a lamp. There was a light yellow sofa against the opposite wall to the door. Above it hung a painting picturing some flowers. Lara could feel her calm returning and took a seat on the sofa.  
  
Konstantin stood by the door still taking in his surroundings. He had to admit that this was one of the nicest hotel rooms he had ever been in.  
  
"So what's so important in the book that we had to dig open the grave?" Lara asked eying him with an air of interest.  
  
"Lower your voice down a bit"  
  
"You think these walls have ears?", she asked teasingly showing the walls around them but lowered her voice.  
  
"Some of them might" , Lara almost chuckled when he said this but when his impression didn't change from grave she swallowed her amusement.  
  
"So what is so important about the book?" she couldn't believe Konstantin hadn't told her before. Somehow he had managed to avoid all of her questions about the matter turning the discussion into something trivial but this time she was going to get her answers.  
  
Konstantin rummaged through his back bag soon finding Nikolas' notebook. He let his fingers travel on te leather covers looking the only item he had left of his friend with sorrow. What was really left behind of the person that would've made him and Lara look sane? A house no one wanted, a book he wrote his ideas to and perhaps a few photographs showing him with the few people who would actually grieve his death.  
  
"It's Nikolas' notebook..." Konstantin began.  
  
"And?" She snapped looking annoyed.  
  
"Nikolas might've been a normal person with a job on the outside but if you managed to get past the cover there was nothing left of his facade. Inside lurked a totally different person, something you couldn't believe to be there. He was one of the few people I could tell what I really was without getting looked at like a participant in a freak show" He glanced at Lara and saw that he had gained her interest. "His interests laid on mythologies, legends and stories, all the things that weren't from this plane of existence and he couldn't possibly write about his findings in his published studies. For that he had this little book here" Konstantin said and tapped the covers of the notebook with his fingers.  
  
Suddenly Lara began to look at the book with new interest. At first she had wondered what was so special in this friend of Konstantin's but as soon as the cover was peeled of she could see the reason. Nikolas had been one of the few people who had had the courage to believe in something that couldn't always be seen. One of the very few people who had managed to reach the mystical world where the myths and legends were true.  
  
"And you thought this book might help us find the Halls?"  
  
He sighed. "Unless you have forgot the scales belong to Egyptian mythology" From the look she gave to him he knew she hadn't forgotten. Probably the question had just escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Most likely it was a sign of enthusiasm. Konstantin smiled a bit.   
  
"If this book can't I can't think of something that could" He said and sat on the only chair in the room. He opened the book eagerly not being able to wait what he'd find inside. Lara watched him seeing the childlike light of fascination taking over his face. At that moment she had to add another subfile to the concept called Konstantin. Could someone who loved their work so much really love anything or anyone else? Was there anymore love to spare? Was that the reason he couldn't see anything worth reaching for in Kurtis? Because he didn't share the same enthusiasm toward mysteries and ran away? She thought about herself for a moment. Was her life the same story? Was the only thing that could make her smile an artifact thousands of years old?  
  
Konstantin was so absorbed in the book that he didn't notice Lara's thoughtful expression. He eyed the pages greedily like wanting to eat their contents through his vision. Each picture and word told him a tale that a normal mind couldn't understand. All of those years he had known Nikolas had brought him insight to the deceased man's way to write notes. Not all was left obvious and one had to be able to read between the lines. It was like an inkblot test, not everyone saw the same thing but in Nikolas' version it was the truth that was hidden under something very simple, something that would fool most of the lookers. Konstantin smiled when yet another picture's secret was revealed to him.  
  
When he turned the page the smile was wiped away. This double-page spread didn't hold the same joy of discovery than the previous ones. Scribbled on the pages were sentences like the discovery Nikolas had made had frightened almost the life out of him. Konstantin recognized one of the many pictures as the statue of the angel in Nikolas' study but in the small, old photograph the heavenly being still had her wings intact. Under the picture was written simply: "The house broke her wings". 


	44. The Notebook, part 2

Disclaimer: None of the characters or places are mine. I only own the plot.  
  
Thank you for reviewing. It's nice to hear there are people who think my work is good.  
  
The Notebook, part 2  
  
He stared at the photo, not being able to move his eyes away from it. All the years Nikolas had owned the house the angel's wings had been broken, so the statue must've come with the house. Perhaps it was one of the few things that really had. That could only mean that Nikolas hadn't taken the photo. The handwriting below the photo was Nikolas', there was no doubt about that. Konstantin couldn't understand how the house could be the reason the angel lost its wings. He removed the tapes holding the photograph in place and turned it around.  
  
Lara stood up when she saw him paying attention to the photograph. She took a few steps toward him so she too could see the picture and the notebook.  
  
Konstantin sensed her coming closer but was so interested in the notebook that he didn't really care. The few words written in the back of the picture made him even more interested. The handwriting wasn't Nikolas' this time and for some reason someone had written, 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me'. Konstantin chuckled. He didn't need to be religious to know that the wrods were from the Bible. It seemed that someone who believed in the man upstairs had inhabited the house over twenty years before Nikolas, or at least the date behind the picture claimed so. As far as Konstantin knew the house was older than that.  
  
After eyeing the photo a while Konstantin took the notebook and continued going through it. There were a few papers filled with writing taped to the next page and they had long ago grown yellowish. The handwriting was probably the same as behind the photo but Konstantin couldn't say for sure. One was written hastily while the other had been written like the writer wanted to show off with his or her penmanship. The date in the upper right corner of each paper stated the raw fact that they belonged to the same person. How Nikolas had come across these items Konstantin didn't know, but that didn't make them any less interesting. He removed the tapes and began reading the writing that, in some parts, had suffered so much that it was unreadable. The text was written on ink or so Konstantin thought, because some parts of it had spread like it had been in contact with water or some other liquid. The writing itself looked like the writer hadn't had enough time and had to write really fast.  
  
"It happened again during the night", Konstantin read aloud. "The past two days the noise has become louder and louder like tormented whispers in an empty room. The voices reverberate through the house as if searching for a victim they can disturb and frighten. Today...I woke up in the middle of the night and found myself staring at bright red eyes burning with hatred. A shadowy figure sitting at my bedside watching me, looking at me like I was its next prey. It didn't do anything more than stare at me, not even blink. Its breathing was rough and somehow it sounded like it was trying to control itself. It was counting but only repeated the same number..."  
  
Not wanting to disturb him, Lara stood quietly, although it was hard to her. The large part in her that loved everything not from this world wanted to ask all the questions swarming in her mind. The rest of her wanted to hear what else had been written on the few pages of someone's diary. The pages themselves looked like they had been torn out of the book. Why, she couldn't tell.  
  
He skipped the rest of the writing concerning that day and moved to the next entry. It was written a couple of days after the first one and the writer seemed more relaxed, like he had discovered a way to hide from the shadowy figure or stop it from coming. Again he read aloud so that Lara could also hear what was written.  
  
"The exorcist came by today and stayed almost six hours. He told me he sensed stronger evil in the house that he had ever met in his career. If I hadn't seen what I saw and heard what I heard I wouldn't have believed him but now he had my whole attention. If there was heaven why shouldn't there be hell? This being that visited me at night was surely from the deepest circles of the place. The exorcist stood a long while in my living room staring at the wall that stood between the living room and a large closet, mumbling prayers and smoothing holy water on the wall. If the situation hadn't been what it was I would've laughed..."  
  
Wall between the living room and a closet? He couldn't remember any closet being there and he was quite sure there wasn't one. According to the diary entries one had existed. Again Konstantin left the rest of the page unread and moved to the one following it. There were again a couple of days that separated the diary entries from each other.  
  
"...It didn't work. After the first night I began to hear the voices again and last night the being sat by my bed once more. It sighed heavily and kept repeating the same number, three. Its breathing was shallow and voice distant like the powers that bound it to this world were weakening. At first light I left the house and went to church to pray, and after it I took a long walk to calm myself down. At the local antique store I found a statue of a crying angel. The piece's name was 'Innocence Lost' and I could clearly see what was meant by it. Something had happened that made the angel cry, perhaps all the evilness inhabiting this world had caused it. I purchased it, hoping it would offer me some protection against the shadowy spirit. I also took a picture of the statue to hide under my pillow."  
  
Konstantin moved to the next diary entry. It was the last one and it was written two days after the one before it.  
  
"A loud crash woke me in the middle of the night, and then I heard sobbing. I jumped up from my bed only to meet the blazing red eyes hovering over me. The creature only said one word: "One", grinned with its rotting teeth and disappeared. I gathered myself and rushed to my study where I believed the crashing voice had come from, and was confronted with a sight I couldn't believe was possible. Pieces of marble lay on the floor and a single real tear rolled down the angel's cheek..."  
  
One. The creature had been counting from ten to one. Konstantin looked at the upper right corner of the last paper again and for a moment he felt like he had crashed into a brick wall. The last date was exactly one day before Nikolas' death but twenty years before it. One.  
  
"One...", he said quietly, as if wanting to know how the word sounded in his ears. "One"  
  
His voice was so quiet that it was hard for Lara to hear it. To her it sounded like mumbling, a combination of letters forming a word not known in any existing language.  
  
"What did you say?" she queried. Leaving things sounding important in the dark wasn't a part of her character. She needed to know. Her life wasn't dependent on it, but her mind was. It needed mysteries, it lived on them. All her life she had tried to avoid becoming an example of what her upbringing could create - a boring noblewoman sitting day after day by the fireplace waiting to be served by the staff of the house. The few glamorous events she could take part in didn't sound inviting to her. She was most at home in the middle of an adventure relying on her guns and wits, relying on something that wouldn't be needed in a noble life.  
  
"This..." he pointed at the last diary entry "...was written by someone one day before Nikolas' death exactly 20 years ago. Someone who lived here" Konstantin replied slowly.  
  
Lara could feel the excitement caused by everything mystical growing inside of her. She loved that feeling. It made her more aware of her surroundings. It made her see everything as a threat. Suddenly running through a hallway was filled with danger where poisonous arrows left their resting places, trying to pierce her skin. Konstantin's voice gave her the shivers. There was something in it that told her he was going toward the deep end of the ocean, the end he had never been to. It was more likely someone would drown in the dark waters than find what they were looking for. She, on the other hand, had learned to swim no matter what kind of storm there was.  
  
Konstantin turned the page once more and was confronted with a couple of diary entries by Nikolas. Greedy for information, he began to read the first one.  
  
"I've noticed a change in the sun medallion I discovered years ago. When it was removed from the wall it was as cold as the first snow but recently I've felt it grow warmer..."  
  
That's it. There was no wonder Konstantin couldn't remember any closet - there hadn't been one for a long time. When Nikolas moved to the house he made renovations, including taking down some walls, or at least Konstantin remembered hearing him say so. Perhaps that sun medallion had been hidden in one of the walls. He swallowed hard and then grabbed the diary entries of the unknown person. As he had remembered the few papers telling about the existence of someone who had lived in the house mentioned the wall between the living room and the closet. The wall that wasn't there anymore. The wall that Nikolas had probably taken down. A small smile crept to his lips. All the years he had known Nikolas the man had managed to keep something like this from him. The German man had known how to keep secrets. Konstantin could only begin to imagine what else had been hidden in Nikolas' mind. All the things he had known and kept as secrets would remain that way for  
eternity to come.  
  
"...Its surface emitted faint light, like something inside it was glowing but the covering made it weaker. The metal was like clouds in front of the sun that tried in vain to shine through them. I placed it in a wooden box which I hid behind the books in the bookshelf so that no one would see it, for I wanted to study the hieroglyphs on it in peace."  
  
"Hieroglyphs?" Lara asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Although she had bad memories of Egypt, she had always found its mythology - as well as any other - very interesting, and in the end, what happened to her in Egypt wasn't the fault of the mythology.  
  
Konstantin shrugged his shoulders. He had never studied hieroglyphs, there had been no reason to. His interests had been directed toward the Nephilim race, their language and its multiple variations. In addition to that he had learned to speak German because of his friends, the ones he could really call his friends. Others were just a social disguise, a wall to hide his true self behind.  
  
"On some sun medallion..." Konstantin started but fell quiet as fast as he had opened his mouth. He darted up from the chair and went after his backbag not minding Lara's questions about his rather odd behaviour. It didn't take much rummaging through the bag to discover what he sought - the metallic object that reminded him of the kind of sun children drew. Because of the room being lit he saw the small smile on the face of the sun...no, it wasn't a smile. It was a grin showing the teeth of the sun and, if he wasn't completely wrong, Konstantin saw a mischievous look in its eyes. A strange line of markings surrounded the face of the sun, and Konstantin had to slit his eyes to see that they were hieroglyphs. Was this the medallion Nikolas had found, and if it was, why was it buried with him? Had he found something out that needed to be kept a secret?  
  
Perhaps the notebook would offer an answer to both of the questions or at least the first one, he thought, and rushed back to the table where the notebook lay. Lara had taken a seat and was now eyeing at the pages of the book, but stood up as soon as Konstantin returned, letting him have the seat. She had learned long ago not to put her nose in something as personal as this, and could sense the sparks in this one. If she went too close no one knew what might happen. She could only wonder why he acted in such a very different way when his son was concerned.  
  
Konstantin laid the medallion on the table, not paying any attention to it. When he went back to reading the notebook Lara grabbed the medallion to examine it closer. She, unlike Konstantin, was skilled in the art of reading hieroglyphs. Having better eyesight than Konstantin, she had no trouble seeing the markings on the medallion. She handled the object with care and devotion as if the the medallion itself was priceless. In her eyes it was. It was an object of great value, an object that needed all the love and care she could give.  
  
He noticed Lara reaching out and taking the medallion but decided to let her have it for a while. He was quite sure she could understand the writing on it. He looked at the date on the first entry and was surprised to see that it was months before Nikolas' death. He continued reading the notebook, his brain screaming for a reason for his friend's demise. Many of the following entries contained nothing that made Konstantin interested and he skipped a few of them entirely, not even bothering to look through them. After turning a couple of pages he found a later entry that was written little over ten days before Nikolas' death.  
  
"I remembered the medallion this morning. Guess 'Out of sight, out of mind' worked in this case. I didn't remember its existence 'cause I couldn't see it constantly. It stayed hidden behind the books for weeks and months, and was only found again because of my need to reorganize the bookshelf."  
  
At this point Konstantin laughed. He remembered all too well Nikolas' hatred toward cleaning up. Perhaps in this case someone had told him to do it, otherwise the bookshelf must have been a terrible mess. The house itself had always been tidy. Guess Nikolas kept it that way because of his love toward the building.  
  
"The first thing I noticed wasn't the heat of the object but the glowing red eyes that hadn't been there before. I don't know whether it really happened or whether it was just my imagination, but for a moment it felt like the sun was looking at me. I shoved the object back in its box and rushed to make a phone call to the person who sold me the house. It was the daughter of the woman who lived here before me. She couldn't tell me anything about her mother's last weeks of life but surrendered the items she had inherited from her mother to me. Most of it was of no use but one item gained my interest - a diary. It was obvious that it wasn't the woman's because all the entries had been written before her moving to the house. I called the daughter to ask again and the only answer she could give was that the book probably came with the house. The person who had lived there before her mother had been a loner, and no one had wanted his items after his death"  
  
Konstantin was even more interested. The two former owners had died and so had Nikolas. He continued reading the diary entry.  
  
"As I opened the book a single photograph fluttered to the ground. It was a picture of my study almost exactly how it was today. Few pieces of the furniture were different but what caught my eye was the statue of an angel that had come with the house. In the picture her broken wings were flawless. Not a single crack could be seen on the complete wings and the whole statue looked like new."  
  
The next entry was a few days later, exactly nine days before Nikolas' death.  
  
"I finished reading through the diary late last night. Some time during the night I woke up, only to find the shadowy figure which the entries told about sitting by my bed. Sitting and staring, not doing anything but saying the number nine over and over again. It was hard to determine whether I was awake or sleeping for the atmosphere in the room was dreamlike. It was the creature's eyes that shocked me the most. They had the same red glow as the medallion as if they were one and the same. The first thing I did after waking up this morning was ensure that the box which held the medallion was shut tight and padlocked before I left to meet my friend at the police station."  
  
Police station. The deceased man was full of surprises. Konstantin had had no idea that Nikolas had been friends with the police but perhaps he himself wasn't the only one with secrets. The next few entries described almost exactly the same events as the ones written by the unknown man, but the one that was written five days before Nikolas' death differed.  
  
"The lists arrived today and I wasn't at all surprised at what they had to say. They only confirmed the fact I already knew was true. I was dying."  
  
Konstantin swallowed hard before continuing.  
  
"I paid for my grave spot today and asked them to bury a few items with me when I died. They must've thought that I'd lost my mind"  
  
Konstantin couldn't read anymore. How had Nikolas known he was dying five days before it happened? How did it feel when you knew the exact date of your death? Surely it was one of the things you couldn't be ready for. You couldn't just decide that today you were ready to die, today all of your duties toward this earth and realm of existence had been carried out. That wasn't possible. Konstantin was sure that as the day grew near accepting it became more and more difficult. If he himself was to die tomorrow or a week from now he didn't want to know it, because he knew he'd mourn for all the things he didn't have time to set right. He'd grieve for all those people who thought he had died years ago not knowing he still lived but most of all, he would grieve for his son whom he never knew.  
  
"What lists?" Lara asked from the sofa where she once again was sitting.  
  
Konstantin had obviously either forgotten her existence of the fact that he read aloud.  
  
"I don't have a clue," he repied in a quiet voice, turning the page once more, only to encounter two folded documents filled with writing. He opened the first one and found a short list containing six names, including Nikolas', whose name was the only one not followed by the word 'deceased'. As he examined the list closely its reason came clear to him. On the piece of paper were listed the six people who had inhabited the house and met their demise.  
  
Slowly he unfolded the second document, which appeared to be thicker than the first one, and saw a longer list of names. It seemed to show the deceased people in Nuremberg between the years 1960 and 2003. Five of the names on the list had been underlined and to his amazement Konstantin recognized the names from the previous list. The first thing about them that caught his attention was the date of their deaths - each month and day was the same, only the years differed from each other. He couldn't believe it. There was always exactly ten years between the dates. Ten years. It took him a while to get over the shock that was caused by seeing the lists, and little did he know he was in for another one. Amongst all of the organ failures, cancers, accidents and diseases he made out five unknowns. Five unknown causes of death. Not caring what the time was he grabbed the hotel room's phone and dialed Wolfgang's number. There was one question he desperately needed an answer to.  
  
"WHAT?" was the answer Konstantin got, and he knew that he had woken Wofgang up.  
  
"Wolfgang, it's Konstantin." He could hear a deep sigh at the other end of the line.  
  
"Don't you know what time it is?"  
  
"I'm aware of the time being late but there's one question I need answered."  
  
"Shoot," Wolfgang said sleepily.  
  
"What was Nikolas' cause of death?"  
  
There was a long silence at the other end and for a moment Konstantin thought Wolfgang had fallen asleep again.  
  
"They couldn't tell," was the answer after the long pause.  
  
"He just dropped dead?"  
  
"Yes...if you don't mind I'll continue sleeping now. Bye."  
  
A clicking sound told him that Wolfgang had hung him up. Konstantin stood there a long time holding the phone, looking at nothing in particular. Then he laid the phone down and turned to face Lara.  
  
"You know what they say?"  
  
"This is a poem but it doesn't really say anything that could help us with the location. It only mentions the Halls once. Dead end," answered the woman who sat on the couch.  
  
"What does it say then?"  
  
Lara grabbed the paper she had written the translation on while Konstantin had been on the phone and read it aloud.  
  
"The Doom of men lies in the Halls  
In the fiery pit where all the judgement falls  
The hero waits as well as the fallen one  
To learn will their souls burn or find the sun"  
  
"In the darkness of the gloomy cave  
I shall stand and watch their souls wail  
What they have done in life shall make  
The path they are doomed to take"  
  
"The weight of the feather is the key  
To unlock the doors of their destinies  
And I watch the heros and villains fall  
Standing by my master in the House of the Sun"  
  
"That's all there was," she said in disappointed tone. Was this the only clue they had to help them in their mission to find the Halls of Doom? Was this where it all ended? They had run from the police, stolen a car and dug up a grave, only to find this worthless piece of information. She sighed heavily, stood up and lay the medallion on the table.  
  
"The House of the Sun?" Konstantin asked, and received a nod from Lara. "How come it sounds so familiar?"  
  
He didn't see Lara's face turning to him or the questioning gleam in her beautiful eyes. Konstantin's words had lit up a little spark of hope in her and that was all she needed. So many times before a little glimpse of light or a little clue had kept her going.  
  
"You've heard of it before?" she asked more harshly than she had meant to.  
  
Konstantin was going through the drawers of his mind. Where had he heard that name before? It took many minutes before it dawned on him.  
  
"Maui," he whispered.  
  
"What did you say?" Lara asked, not believeing her ears.  
  
"Maui. We were there on our honeymoon, and she wanted to go looking around because for some reason she had always wanted to go there."  
  
Lara stared at him. This wasn't the time to remember his honeymoon, for there were so much more important things to do.  
  
"What does this have to do with anything?" she asked with annoyed voice.  
  
"The volcano...Haleakala...covers most of the island."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Its other name is 'the House of the Sun'." 


	45. The Clouds

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Tomb Raider games or movies.   
  
Please tell me what you think about my work.  
  
In the Clouds  
  
He still couldn't understand why he had to fly to Maui, but his ticket stated very clearly that this indeed was his destination. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, abandoned the paper he had been reading and once again turned to look out of the window as the clouds passed the plane by. Although they normally made him calmer, there existed now a spark of restlessness inside him, a spark he couldn't extinguish. It felt like his grandmother's words had lit up a fire inside him, and only finding the Halls and stopping this Karel could end it burning him from the inside. To his amazement the clouds began to form shapes, like figures, and all of them were staring at him. Was he becoming mad? First the shadowy forms in the black pool and now the ones of white foam in the sky. Kurtis glued his face to the window, much to the amazement of the man who sat next to him. Not minding his co-passenger staring at him with wide-open eyes, Kurtis kept on looking at the clouds, wondering what caused the illusion. They couldn't be real, no, they simply couldn't. They were created by his imagination or else there was something wrong with his head, seriously.  
  
He found their shapes enchanting and their slow movements bewitching. It felt like entering a psychosomatic dream, a world that existed beyond the borders of this one. He tore his eyes from the cloudy figures and turned to see the man sitting next to him, only to meet a slightly frightened stare. Was he able to see the forms or did they again exist only to him? If it was so, was he the only one who could cross the border between this world and the spectral one? That is, if there even was a border. The other, more frightening, option was that all of the things he saw and had seen lived in this one world hidden from human eyes and for some reason were shown to him only. Was it in his genes to see the things normally hidden from view?  
  
He closed his eyes and shook his head as if he was trying to drive these mirages away from his mind, but when he opened his eyes again, the figures were still there.  
  
"Excuse me, sir," Kurtis heard someone saying carefully, as if afraid Kurtis would attack and rip the meat from his bones. "Are you alright?"  
  
Kurtis chuckled a bit. Perhaps the person asking thought that he was high on something or just simply had lost his mind. He couldn't deny that he had thought about the latter option himself. Where was the line between sanity and insanity? How subtle was it, or was it again one of the illusions created by human beings to be safe from the true world? Just a similar illusion to the rose-tinted glasses they wore.   
  
"Quite alright, thank you," Kurtis replied emphasizing the 'thank you' so that the man and all the others in the plane would simply leave him alone. He hated when people asked if he was alright. Couldn't one see that quite clearly if one was fine or not? It was one of the most vain sentences that he knew. The man that had asked the question shut his mouth quickly and looked away as if Kurtis had hurt his feelings. To be frank, he didn't care even if he had. He wasn't there to care about everyone's feelings.  
  
Kurtis again looked out of the window, but this time saw only normal clouds. Nothing he had seen before existed anymore. He was saved from more looks from his co-passengers by a voice that told them the plane was about to land, and they were told to fasten their seatbelts.  
  
He was glad when he got off the plane. For some reason his ears began hurting every time he was in an airplane as it began to land. He had tried everything from eating gum to special earplugs, but nothing seemed to help. Perhaps his ears weren't made to tolerate such great changes in air pressure. He followed the people with the paper in his hand to get his luggage back. It wasn't that large a bag, but he had to put it in the luggage space because of his Boran X and Chirugai. He wasn't allowed to take them into the cabin, not anymore. After waiting for almost half an hour the baggages of their flight emerged to the conveyor belt, but his bag wasn't amongst the first ones.  
  
After almost an hour he was still waiting, but when everyone else who had been on his flight had gotten their bags and suitcases, he gave up and strode over to the information desk.  
  
"Where is my bag?" he asked in an annoyed voice. He only got a blank stare from the man behind the counter. Probably he had to meet many people who had lost their baggage each day and was bored of them but it didn't stop Kurtis feeling angry.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, sir," he said to Kurtis, and gave him a rather large piece of paper. "Please fill out this form and we shall send your luggage to you when it emerges."  
  
"When it emerges," Kurtis hissed under his breath. Something like this just had to happen when he really needed his weapons. How was he going to defeat this Karel now? He had none of his weapons with him. Frustratedly he grabbed the form and began to scribble something on it. While filling the paper he could feel the customer advisor's eyes on him. Was there something that strange about him that everyone just had to stare? He handed the piece of paper back to the man behind the counter, not looking at him.  
  
"Thank you, sir," the man said in a monotone. Was there a school or something that taught them to speak like that? "We'll inform you if your bag resurfaces."  
  
Kurtis strode away from the airport, filled with anger. What was he supposed to do now that he had lost all of his weapons? Suddenly he stopped remembering something he hadn't remembered before. Carefully he touched the side of his belt, feeling the hilt of the Shadow Katana. He had totally forgotten he still had it. For some reason the metal detector hadn't detected it, perhaps because the blade was made of shadow or , like his grandmother had told him, the soul of the first dissident nephilim. If it was all he had it would simply have to be enough.  
  
He grabbed the paper he still had and threw it into a garbage can, or at least tried. As soon as it was free it was grabbed by the wind and rolling on the ground. Whenever Kurtis tried to grab it, it rolled further away from him, and finally stopped when someone dressed totally in black stepped on it. For a moment Kurtis stared at the stranger's shoes and then turned to look at his face. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses and he wore a long, black jacket. It was almost impossible to make out his face but Kurtis was pretty sure it was pale. The stranger silently picked up the paper, not looking at Kurtis at all.  
  
"You dropped your magazine," he said in a calm, soulless voice, looking at the paper.  
  
Kurtis stayed silent for a while. "I was about to throw it away."  
  
"Don't," the stranger said quickly. "Throw away important things."  
  
Kurtis was stunned. How could that paper be important? He had read it through on the plane and it didn't have anything that could help him in it. He looked at the ground and failed to see the white flash behind the stranger's sunglasses.  
  
"Why would it be important?"  
  
"Perhaps you're just too blind to see it, Mr. Trent."  
  
Kurtis was growing bored of this very fast. Somehow the most strange people he had never met knew his name, and he was sure that this one wasn't related to him. He looked around, only to see people gaping at him. Not another mirage that only he could see.  
  
"Why can't they see you?" Kurtis asked carefully.  
  
"Who said they couldn't? Perhaps they just don't want to. They are so keen of their idea of this world that they see nothing that doesn't fit in. Seeing us is beyond their ability of understanding."  
  
"Understanding? Even I don't understand! How do you know my name? What the hell are you anyway?"  
  
"You will eventually. What I am does not make any difference, it doesn't change anything, for I am not the one with the power."  
  
The power? What was that supposed to mean? "You didn't answer my question. What are you?"  
  
"Someone making the wrongs right." After saying this he handed the magazine back to Kurtis, who took it, not looking at the hand that gave it to him. If he had, he wouldn't have seen anything else but a dim light that held the paper. When he looked up again there was no one to be seen, but the paper was in his hand.  
  
Kurtis sat on a bench nearby and opened the magazine to go through it again, more carefully this time. All the same pieces of news were still printed on the pages - all except one. He remember the little piece of news telling about 'the Halls of Justice'. The article had been about the law in general, especially all the little loopholes it had, all the ways to avoid being punished for a crime one had committed. The first thing that caught Kurtis' attention in this article was the headline, or better, what the headline was supposed to be. It was changed like someone had rewritten it, like something had altered it. Something that had been in contact with the paper after he had read it the second time. 'Someone making the wrongs right'. What wrongs?  
  
Eagerly Kurtis began to read the article now called 'the Halls of Judgement' noticing that the re-writing didn't only apply to the headline - the whole article was changed and nothing that was printed there before was left, nothing. It was filled with knowledge about ancient religions and myths starting from Egyptian mythology and ending with Greek. It told about the scales, their meaning and most important of all - the Halls of Doom.  
  
He eyed the article greedily to find some clue about the place where the Halls lay. Finally his eyes met one. It was written in English as if translated directly for him, and for him alone. He doubted that anyone else could've read that article.  
  
"The line is formed and the fate is drawn   
In the end their life will be no more  
And the freedom of will shall fall  
If the one can rule it all."  
  
"In the fiery depths, in the cavern of flame  
The groups of living are waiting the blame  
Where once was justice it now shall fail  
Unless the one can't step into the cave."  
  
"To stop him there is a way  
A being with no soul can never gain  
Peace and in limbo he shall remain  
If in the right way he is slain."  
  
"In the mountain of fire  
In the heat of the pyre  
Lies the one's true desire  
To rule this world and fate with ire."  
  
Mountain of fire? A volcano? As far as Kurtis knew there was one on Maui. 


	46. Riding a Bicycle

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Tomb Raider games or movies.  
  
Riding a Bicycle  
  
She had never been to Maui before but she couldn't deny that she liked the atmosphere. Lara really wasn't a person who liked to lie down an a beach and sunbathe. She was an adventurer and found museums and archaeological digs more interesting but sometimes, just sometimes, she loved the feeling of letting everything go and having some time just for her. She didn't want to admit it, but after living for weeks with the knowledge about a race called nephilim existing she would gladly take a break. After all she too was only human.  
  
Konstantin had talked all the time they had sat in the plane about the way they should get to the volcano, like he had it all planned out in that secretive mind of his. Of course, he had been to Maui before and had some kind of idea how to climb to the volcano. Lara found it rather strange that defeating Karel was the only thing Konstantin talked about, like it was the very purpose of his life. Perhaps to him it was. Perhaps he was more similar to her parents that she wanted to admit. They had disowned her because she didn't want to live her life like them - visiting parties and living a life with no actual content. She wanted the painting too, not only the frame. Had Konstantin treated his son in a similar way? Because Kurtis didn't share his interests and way of life he was considered no good?  
  
It was hard for him to understand that it was finally happening. All those years Karel had caused pain and agony upon mankind would end tonight and he, Konstantin, was the one who got to carry out the punishment, or at least see it carried out. He couldn't hide his excitement from Lara and, to be truthful, he didn't want to. Something he had waited for almost all of his life was about to happen. Finally he'd get to use his skills as they were meant to be used - for fighting the nephilim. He had had his share of fighting the Cabal but nephilim, like Karel, were something he had never met on a battlefield. It had been his dream from his early training days, it had been every Lux Veritatis' dream, everyone's but one - Kurtis'.  
  
To Konstantin it had been a shock that Kurtis hadn't been thrilled about his abilities and skills. He hadn't enjoyed his training and especially the idea that he was to fight the Cabal, and perhaps someday the Nephilim. Instead of greeting his gift with open arms, he hadn't wanted it.  
  
"We'd better find ourselves a guide," Konstantin said with a murky voice, and Lara could tell there was something bothering him.  
  
"A guide?" Lara had had her share of bad experiences with guides. Some of them had been swindlers, some of them had died and some had run away. So in her opinion they were a bunch of untrustworthy cowards who had a tendency to get killed. They weren't much of a help, more like a burden.  
  
"Yes. It's been over thirty years since was here the last time. Much has changed."  
  
Lara had to admit that there was some reason in what he was saying. Time had a habit of consuming everything, flesh and lifeless things. It re-shaped the earth and bent the mountains to its will. Time was the beginning and the end of everything, and everything had its own time to walk and live under the sun.  
  
The market place was full of life, selling souvenirs and snacks, but they passed it as if it didn't exist. There were so many other, more important things in their minds that they couldn't really care less. The world was filled with market places but there was only this one chance to save everything there is to save.  
  
They finally found a tourist information center after some looking, and entered the building. There was no one behind the counter so Konstantin rang the bell. They heard someone dropping something in the back room and swearing afterwards before emerging holding his hand. Apparently he had been drinking some tea or coffee, they had scared him and he had spilled the drink over his wrist. Lara and Konstantin had turn away not to laugh.  
  
"Yes. It's terribly funny. Now tell me what you want?" the man said with an annoyed voice.  
  
Konstantin sighed. How come they had to meet all the people who didn't seem to like their jobs? First in the hotel and now here.  
  
"We would like to hire a guide to take us to the volcano."  
  
"Near it, or do you want to see the crater too?" he asked going through the thick book filled with scribbling and notes on the counter. Lara's eyes wandered to the book and she could only wonder how they could keep the track of days if their books were in such a sorry state. How could they even tell what day it was?  
  
"We would really want to see the crater" Konstantin's voice brought her back to reality.  
  
"There is plenty of room on a bicycle tour that leaves in half an hour."  
  
"That will do fine," Lara said, before Konstantin could object. He wasn't in any condition to ride a bicycle up the mountain, and perhaps down too, later on. After hearing where the tour started from they exited the building and Lara could feel Konstantin's eyes on her back.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Cycling? I haven't cycled in over thirty years!"  
  
She turned around to face him. "I don't care if you can't ride a bike! We're running out of time and it was the best option there was. Live with it!"  
  
Half an hour later Konstantin wobbled his first metres with bike for a small eternity. In the beginning it was hard for him not to fall down, but then he seemed to remember how to do it. Lara had to look away so as not to laugh every now and then, but once he remembered how to do it there was nothing more to laugh about. Perhaps the old saying that you could not forget how to swim or bike if you've learned it once was true. It was strange how there was a small seed of truth behind them all, just like there was a piece of truth in all the myths and legends.  
  
The group in which they were biking sure did have room, in fact it had plenty of room, for she and Konstantin were the only ones there. At first they were biking asphalt road but soon it turned to one that was made of gravel. She paid no attention to what the guide was saying, since he was talking only about the surrounding area, the history of Maui as a holiday resort and something trivial about the surrounding nature.  
  
After riding almost an hour Konstantin began to be quite worn out but he kept on going. Nothing could make him miss the most important event in Lux Veritatis history.  
  
It had been a while for Lara too since she had ridden a bicycle but she was in far better condition than Konstantin and enjoyed the ride. Her attention was drawn to a person walking at the side of the road, a person with dark brown hair and, if her eyes weren't failing her, and a dark blue shirt with white sleeves. She blinked but the person was still there. As they overtook him she turned to see, only to meet a gaze of deep blue eyes. Lost in them she didn't watch where she was going.  
  
"Watch out, Ms.Croft!" Konstantin yelled as her bike almost hit his. He was only saved by turning his bike sharply to right and almost falling down himself.  
  
Lara looked behind her once but there was no one to be seen as if the man she had seen hadn't even been there. Was she going mad?  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, Konstantin."  
  
He only nodded, and they were on their way. It took a long while for them to reach the crater and the rest of the journey they had to walk their bikes because Konstantin was exhausted. Once they stood on the top of the volcano looking down into the crater, the guide began talking again.  
  
"This spectacular shield volcano covers over 75 percent of the island of Maui. Looking from the summit the crater is 11.25 kilometres across, 3.2 kilometres wide and nearly 0.8 kilometres deep" It sounded like a speech that had been recorded. Lara guessed one grew bored of repeating it so many times in their lives, or that after a time they just lost interest. "Haleakala has been called the largest extinct volcanic crater in the world, but we still aren't sure whether or not it is extinct. The last time it erupted was around 1790. For human beings that is a long time, but we can't say with any certainty that this volcano wouldn't erupt again."  
  
Lara nudged Konstantin a bit further away from the guide.  
  
"Erupted? Not extinct?" she whispered. "How can we find the Halls if they're covered in piles of dried up lava?" Konstantin just shrugged, and they listened as the guide continued speaking.  
  
"An interesting legend tells of Maui, a Polynesian demigod. He snared the sun as a punishment because it was moving too quickly across the sky and didn't give enough time for the fruit to become ripe and women's clothing to dry. Maui climbed Haleakala and lassoed the sun's rays at dawn as they struck the mountaintop and held them fast with his strong ropes. When the sun promised to move more slowly across the sky, Maui released it, but left the ropes attached to the sun's rays to remind the sun of its promise. In the evening as the sun sets, the ropes can be seen stretching from the land to the sky."  
  
"Is it possible to... explore the crater closer?" Lara asked.  
  
"In fact it is." The voice made Lara turn around and face the coldest light blue eyes in existence. Karel. He had hidden himself behind the same woman Lara had seen while Karel had told her what he wanted her to do, the same woman who had been Konstantin's wife and the very same who was Kurtis' mother. In the blink of an eye Karel re-aimed and shot their guide, directly between the eyes. Guess that one was the dying type. "To be frank, you have no choice."  
  
Lara pulled her gun and aimed. 


	47. Up the Volcano

Disclaimer: Characters of Tomb Raider games and movies are not my property and they never will be.  
  
Up the Volcano  
  
Not finding any other kind of transportation Kurtis decided to walk to the volcano. Although the road wasn't that terribly long he didn't look forward to walk in the heat of a day. He'd rather travel by night but now he had no choice. This time time was his enemy and every second that passed by counted. There was no room for sitting around, no time to fall apart and no time to think twice. The decision at hand was like a double-edged sword - either way would get him hurt somehow for he didn't believe he could survive a fight with a nephilim unscratched and if he wouldn't walk up the path the whole world would be on the edge of destruction. He looked at the road leading away to the volcano thinking if he could bear the weight of being responsible for the letting Karel do what he wanted in the Halls. Could he really look himself in the mirror ever again if he decided not to go?  
  
He had tried it once before, tried to just walk away but he couldn't. What he was had followed him to the Foreign Legion and during those years he was given the name 'Demonhunter'. The name itself had always been enough to remind him about his purpose of existence. There was never going to be a 'normal' life for him and it was better if he accepted it now.  
  
He looked back before taking his first step on the road leading to the volcano and hoped he wouldn't regret it. There was also the possibility that he wouldn't live to regret it or then he would regret it the rest of his life. He turned around to see the town one last time. At least this time it was by a choice. When he was a child his training had been a must, something he had to do to gain his father's respect, respect of a person who had found it impossible to care for him if he didn't pass each test. He had always felt more like a pet, a trained dog, than Konstantin's son.  
  
He tried to keep up a steady pace but to him it seemed the road would never end. It crawled up the volcano like a snake and every time he turned around a corner all he could see was more road. He sighed and kept on going.  
  
At that moment he heard talking from behind him and suddenly three bikes overtook him. He could've sworn that for a moment he stared directly at Lara and she stared back. It only lasted for a few seconds and then the elderly man riding one of the bikes yelled something at her. It sounded like 'Watch out, Ms. Croft' to Kurtis but he wasn't entirely sure.   
  
The man's voice was awfully familiar to Kurtis and sent shivers down his spine. It couldn't be. To him that voice had died years ago. He had attended the funeral of the person to whom that voice belonged. He had stood many long hours by the gravestone carrying that voice's owner's name. Stood there half wishing that the grave would be empty and somewhere out there was a person who could give him answers to all of his questions while the other half hoped that the person who had taken his childhood would indeed rest there, six feet under. He had stood there waiting for the grave to grow cold that he could go on with his life. It had been impossible. To him the man in the coffin was like an open wound, always bleeding and only one person knew how to fill up the holes.  
  
Quickly he sought refuge from behind a nearby milestone hoping they wouldn't notice him if they decided to look back. He waited behind the milestone for a while and peeked around the corner every now and then to make sure that he was beyond their sight. As soon as they had disappeared behind yet another turn in the road he emerged from his hideout.  
  
The road was empty like the people who biked on it just a few moments ago hadn't even existed. The moment was gone but he could still remember it, remember the man's voice. The man, he was almost sure it was his father, who he had abandoned not because he had to but because he chose to. He hadn't simply wanted to live the life set for him, all the glories and defeats already thought of, all the highlights pointed out and all the rules already written. It had been a prison for his free will. Something so human had been disregarded for greater good. Perhaps they had thought that sacrificing few with the 'gift' to save many was a good choice but what if the ones sacrificed weren't happy about their part of the deal?  
  
He kicked a small pebble to the side of the road and watched it land among hundreds of similar ones. A small smile crept to his lips. The pebble reminded him of his running away but later he had understood that he couldn't run. It was in his blood - literally, it was in his genes. It had been handed to him on a platter which hadn't been made of silver - it had been rusted, the very material grown old and weary of the war that didn't seem to end.  
  
He kept on walking - first walking slowly and then quickened his pace. It just dawned to him that if Lara was going to the volcano it had to be the right place, or at least so he hoped. He based his beliefs on the fact that Lara had a far larger library than he did so she had to do her homework well. If the man riding one of the bikes was who he believed him to be then there was something bigger going on.  
  
He almost ran the rest of the way but slowed down when he heard voices again. He crawled the remaining distance and peeked over the rocky wall to see the three persons standing there, looking at the crater and talking. What was said he couldn't hear but it seemed like a tour of some kind, at least the third person was acting like a guide - telling something he had rehearsed, something someone else had written. Kurtis hated all that kind of tours - they had no soul and the guides were boring people who had lost the spark they used to have while learning the speeches written for them. Then something happened. Lara dragged the other man a few steps away from the guide and Kurtis swallowed. Had something, that proved that the Halls actually weren't there, turned out?  
  
As soon as they returned to the guide Kurtis saw some movement behind them - a man using a woman as a shield appeared. Kurtis couldn't see it but he knew the woman was held at gunpoint. She seemed awfully calm, like she didn't mind at all if he was to shoot her in the head. In the next minute the person Kurtis had thought to be a guide fell down, seemingly dead and lifeless, all life driven our of him by a finger that pressed a piece of metal. Yet Kurtis hadn't heard a thing. It seemed that there was a silencer attached to the gun. His fingers tightened around the hilt of the shadow katana but he loosened his grasp as he saw Lara pulling her gun and aiming.  
  
The next thing he saw was many men appearing to the gunman's side and each of them had a gun of some kind pointed at the two people standing there as if they were the last obstacle between the man and the Halls. Was that Karel? He seemed like the leader of the group. He saw the man he thought to be his father reaching out for Lara's gun as if he wanted to take it from her taking the last defense they had against Karel's group. Konstantin was about to drop the weapon but instead of letting go he raised it again and aimed. The sound of a gunshot filled the air. 


	48. Shot

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Tomb Raider games or movies.  
  
Shot  
  
"Ms. Croft, give me the gun!" Konstantin hissed, and Lara could hear that he was only an inch away from yelling. She had no intention of giving up her weapons, her last means to protect herself and Konstantin from Karel. From experience she knew that a simple bullet couldn't kill the nephilim, but perhaps it would give them some time to run and make up some sort of a plan. She hated running. It was a way to show the enemy that she didn't have a plan ready. It would show her vulnerability but it could also save her life.   
  
She grasped the gun as if her life depended on it. She and Konstantin were drowning too fast, and the gun was the last thing that kept their heads above the water's surface. Although a bullet couldn't kill Karel, it would harm him, and she was certain that even the nephilim weren't beyond pain. Surely Karel didn't want a bullet between his eyes, for repairing the damage would take much of his precious time.  
  
"Ms. Croft, give me the GUN." Lara didn't look at Konstantin, but she could sense him boiling already. At times it seemed like the man had no nerves at all. He was dangerously jumpy and made decisions hastily as if he believed he'd run out of time before he'd notice it. The thought stopped Lara for a moment. Could he really believe he already had run out of time? Had there been something important he had wanted to do but there had been no time left? She knew he probably had wanted to spend some time with Nikolas but truly hoped she was wrong. She missed her own parents. Even though she disliked them for what they had done she still wished they'd accept her choice, her way of life. She had even ripped most of her childhood pictures, the ones that reminded her of the time she was 'trained' to become a perfect noble woman, from one of her books leaving it almost empty. She didn't know what was worse: seeing the pictures or the empty pages.  
  
He couldn't understand why it was so difficult for Lara to give up the gun. It was only a piece of metal, not something worth dying for, and they probably would die if she wouldn't give up the darned weapon.   
  
"Lara, give me the gun."  
  
The first thing she registered was the fact that he used her first name instead of 'Ms.Croft'. She looked around and gasped as if she was seeing Karel's men for the first time. To Konstantin it seemed that she realized that there was no winning in the situation. Not cooperating meant only turning to dust a little earlier than they were meant to. In the long run no one would notice a soul leaving the earth a decade or two too soon, but at the moment he wanted to live at least those years. Perhaps he'd even have enough time to make all the wrongs he had done during his years right.  
  
"LARA" he was almost touching the firearm when she suddenly lowered her aim and released her hold of the gun, which would've dropped if Konstantin hadn't managed to grab it in time.  
  
"So there is a thing called common sense," Karel muttered, but Lara was able to hear it. 'Like you would know anything about it,' she thought. Common sense was a concept she found impossible to use in the same sentence as Karel. The two went together like water and fire and Lara truly hoped that Karel was the fire, that he could be defeated with common sense.  
  
Konstantin lowered the gun, a defeated look in his eyes. For a moment he stared at Karel as if he was trying to find something human in him. As much as he hated to admit it, Karel was partly a human being, he had to be. It didn't make any sense that something as cruel as the nephilim had come to be and that humans were partly responsible for it. The nephilim seemed to have inherited nothing from either of their parents. Instead of gaining the light of the angels and the emotions of humans they had turned out to be evil to the bottom of their hearts. That is if they even had such things - in the end it was the heart where the goodness had been thought to reside for ages. On the other hand, lions could become tame if they weren't taught to hunt for survival. Perhaps the nephilim were a similar case - taught to be cruel and heartless from their birth, they turned out to be real life monsters.  
  
Konstantin stared at the gun in his hand for a few seconds and then turned to face Karel again. Sad expression took over his eyes as he studied the features of his wife, the woman he had loved for ten years and to be frank, still did. He couldn't tell it wasn't her anymore. The years of physical and mental torture had taken their toll leaving her mindless but for some reason she still lived. Life. She didn't have one anymore, it had been taken from her by the monster standing behind her, the monster who, during the years Konstantin had known Karel, hadn't smiled even once. He was unable to smile only to express his happiness over some simple thing. There was always something mean behind the expression.  
  
"I'm sorry," Konstantin whispered while a single tear rolled down his cheek. Quickly he aimed and shot, closing his eyes, not wanting to see it.  
  
Even though she was used to gunfire, this one shot caught her by surprise, for she hadn't seen it coming. She looked at Konstantin standing there, the gun in his hand still aimed at something. She swallowed as she saw his expression. All the emotion that had once lived in his brown eyes could no longer be seen. At first she couldn't understand what it was? But then she turned to see what he had shot at.   
  
The woman, her face a painting of pain before, now stood there in Karel's Grasp, but her face was lacking all emotion. Lara couldn't see a single feeling crossing her face. The only thing that brought some color was the blood slowly flowing from the hole between her eyes. For a moment Lara could've sworn she smiled, and then her body sagged like all of her bones had suddenly disappeared.  
  
Konstantin dropped the weapon, not wanting to touch it anymore. It tore him apart to see her body silently falling to the ground, but he too had seen the smile. It had been small and meaningless but to him it had meant a victory over Karel. He didn't mind how small a victory it was. The expression of pure rage on Karel's face told him that the one thing the nephilim hadn't expected had just taken place. Konstantin's gaze slid back to the still figure on the ground - at least she was free from her agony.   
  
It was in this moment he felt a jolt of pain in his stomach. Before he lost his balance he saw one of Karel's men standing almost directly in front of him with a gun in hand. The time stood still and all the voices around him became a muffled mess, and for a moment all he could see was white. There was something happening around him but he could only see the events in slow motion. Slowly he moved his left hand over his stomach feeling the sticky liquid of life leaving his body. Had he been shot? Was that a scream? He didn't register his knees giving in until his head made contact with the ground. It should've hurt, but no feeling could pierce his mind, which had gone numb.  
  
Everything had happened so fast that Lara was lost in the moment. The second gunshot had caused her to close her eyes as if she was waiting for the bullet to pierce her flesh and fight its way through her intestines. It wasn't she who fell, and she only opened her eyes after she heard something hitting the ground. Seeing Konstantin lying there in a slowly growing puddle of dark reddish liquid, she screamed. The front of his shirt was stained by the blood abandoning him. She rushed forward, hoping she could help him in some way but she was aprubtly stopped by a sharp pain in the back of her head that made her gasp. She tried to free herself from the grasp of whoever had taken a hold of her braid.  
  
"Now, now, Ms. Croft," Karel said smiling but Lara could see a glint of cruelty in his eyes. "That isn't a proper way for a lady to act."  
  
"You had him shot, you bastard!" she snapped at him, trying to sound as mean as she could master.  
  
It made Karel laugh, but even in his laughter existed a hint of something else. He didn't laugh for a simple joy, he laughed because he had won, or at least thought he had. He laughed because he had humiliated someone and managed to capture the very beings that had been able to escape from him.  
  
"I did, didn't I?" A grin took over his face. "You think a man would know you better after that kind of friendship he and I shared, but no. He just had to disobey." Karel aimed his gun at her. "I believe you're wise enough not to make the same mistake"  
  
Quickly she nodded. There was nothing she could do. She was outnumbered and the odds weren't on her side, since the enemy wasn't even human.  
  
"I thought so." Karel then pointed at Konstantin's backpack. "Pick it up. I believe there's something I will need in it."  
  
Not being able to do anything else, Lara raised her hands up in the air to show that she wasn't carrying any weaponry and then slowly walked to Konstantin's body. As she lifted him a bit he let out a small cry of pain, indicating that he was still alive.  
  
"Just be still," she whispered to him. "Or it'll all end here today". When she looked up she saw one of Karel's assistants aiming his gun at the back of Konstantin's head.   
  
"No," Karel told his assistant in a voice that chilled Lara's bones. Then he turned to look at the death-warmed man lying on the ground. "Let him suffer. He has deserved at least that."  
  
Since Konstantin wasn't being very helpful and she was held at a gunpoint she practically had to rip the backpack off his back. Angrily she threw the item aside and laid him down on the ground, trying to make him more comfortable.  
  
Konstantin couldn't really make out what was said around him and he didn't really care. He knew there was no running away this time. The grim reaper had finally won this round of poker in which the bet was his life. He felt someone lifting him from the ground and before he could stop himself he yelled out loud. The next thing he knew someone was speaking to him in a soothing voice. Perhaps that someone was telling him that it all would be alright or he didn't need to fear because in the end he wouldn't be alone. As he felt the life slowly departing him he regretted all the things he hadn't had time to make right. Nikolas had died, he himself had died in the minds of the people who cared about him - and then there was Kurtis. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember how he looked when he smiled, or how he sounded when he laughed. He didn't care. It was all too late anyway.  
  
Lara dried her bloody hands on her pants, not looking at Karel. Her gaze remained on the face in front of her. Although Konstantin seemed relaxed, she knew he was far away from it. Too tired to make an expression, too worn out to scream... too close to death to care.   
  
"Now pick it up," Karel ordered her in a cold voice, and she was sure that no matter what happened his voice would always remain that way. Grabbing Konstantin's backpack she began to walk toward something she thought to be the Halls.  
  
So this was the way it was going to end. All his mistakes were to be repaid at this particular moment, and all the people who should be there couldn't or didn't want to be. He couldn't really ask them to, for had made caring about him nearly impossible.   
  
"Why are you sorry?" The question echoed in his mind. Not knowing where the voice came from, he looked around, even though moving his head seemed to be difficult. There was no one to be seen, and for a moment he thought he had only imagined the voice. He wasn't even sure if he had heard it. Was it only an echo of his past, a memory of an event he didn't remember had taken place?  
  
"You had nothing to do with it." The voice echoing in his head was familiar to him. It had been years and years since he had last heard it, but he remembered it as if he had just spoken with the person. He turned his head slowly, finding out only that he was growing weak fast. He didn't feel pain or the warmth of the crimson liquid escaping his body with every beat of his heart.  
  
At last his eyes made contact with ones that stared right at him. Blue eyes filled with emptiness – the eyes of a dead person. Still, she looked like she was staring at him. Did she just blink? No, it couldn't be. It wasn't possible. She had a bullet in her head and no human being could survive that. He reached for her with his hand but the distance was too far. It was too little, too late. When she finally was there he was unable to reach her. Through many years he had waited for the moment he'd be alone with her again, but this had been the last thing in his mind. Not in his wildest dreams had he thought that they'd lay on the very same island on which they had honeymooned, almost side by side with the life slowly leaving them.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said again, not sure if his words were able to reach her anymore.  
  
"Why?" the voice again echoed in his mind.  
  
"I wasn't there."  
  
"In the end it was my choice."  
  
He couldn't actually make out what had been her choice. Leaving them would be the better of the two options he had. The other one was her going with Karel willingly. No, it couldn't be so. She couldn't have given permission for him to do this to her.  
  
"At least now you are free. Perhaps we will meet on the other side." His talking was slow and words almost one mumbled mess.  
  
"I will never be free from this body."  
  
That was the last sentence he heard, and when he looked at his wife again her eyes were shut, but her chest kept rising and falling slowly. He must be seeing things. He blinked his eyes but still her eyes were closed.  
  
As the steps of Lara, Karel and his helpers died he registered new ones coming toward him, ones that sounded like running steps. A few seconds later the sun was blocked by someone hovering over him. A shadow blocked the rays of sun, and when Konstantin opened his eyes all he could see was a figure surrounded by light standing there.  
  
"Konstantin," the figure said, and to Konstantin's surprise he knew the voice. 


	49. The Sunset of Life

Disclaimer: No...I don't own any of the characters that have been in Tomb Raider games or movies. I don't own any characters that have been mentioned in those games or movies.  
  
Please review if you read this.  
  
The Sunset of Life  
  
She went limp as the bullet found its goal in her body. From that kind of distance Kurtis couldn't tell were Konstantin had hit her, but all the same the little piece of lead had drained the power that held her standing from her. The emotional pain the simple act had caused Konstantin could be seen from his expression. The gun fell from his limp hand as he stared at the woman, or so it seemed to Kurtis. What could she possibly mean to him?  
  
Without any warning Konstantin twitched like a sudden spasm had run through his body. Lara tried to run to him but got stopped by one of Karel's men. A primal urge to play the hero and save the day took over Kurtis and he was about to leap from his hiding place and rush to Lara's and Konstantin's aid, but the small voice in his head stopped him from doing it. What good would it do? How could he fight them? With a katana whose blade was made of shadow? As Kurtis watched them make Lara rip the backpack from his father the only thing he could do was to grasp the little loose soil there was on the ground.   
  
So useless. After all of his years still so damn useless. If he only had his chirugai, or even a gun. Perhaps then he would be able to give Lara and Konstantin a good head start, and even if Konstantin couldn't rise up and run anymore Lara's life could be saved. Even if it wasn't for more than an hour or two it would be worth it, and he knew she'd rather go down fighting than sitting silently while everyone else took part in the action. Perhaps then he wouldn't have to see her die. He wouldn't have to witness the independent spirit that was Lara Croft dry up like a flower trying to bloom in a desert.  
  
He began to follow the events with his gaze again when Karel and Lara disappeared from the scene. Not knowing where they went, he sat still for a little time - there was no sense in letting them know that he was there too. Not seeing either Lara or Karel for a few minutes he finally stood up, stretched his legs and began descending to the crater. Nothing else could be seen but the two bodies lying on the ground close to each other. As he drew closer to them he saw that Konstantin was reaching for the woman, who was obviously dead. It could be seen from her now open eyes that were the same color as his own. They would've been almost exact copies of his, but now they were staring blankly, not seeing a thing. Their once probably clear surface was now bleary, like some sort of veil clouded them and prevented them from seeing this world.  
  
Kurtis gave no more attention to the obviously dead woman but turned to look at his father. Slow breaths still kept him alive while his blood wet his shirt and the soil under it. As Kurtis bent a little he could clearly see where the blood was coming from. In his father's abdomen was a bullet hole. To Kurtis' surprise he didn't feel enormous sadness. He was only able to stand there and look at the fatal wound with wonder. It didn't shock him to see one of those people whom he were supposed to love bleed to death in front of him. Why couldn't it touch him? How he wished it could. How he wished it would.  
  
"Konstantin," he said, as if he was talking to someone who wasn't lying in front of him, dying. He had hoped that he'd have one more chance to make it all right between him and Konstantin. All those years he had thought his father dead but now, when the opportunity knocked, he could only stand there.  
  
Konstantin blinked, but the dark form standing by him didn't come any clearer. It didn't even have to. He recognized the voice and could hear the coldness in it. How could something as cold as Kurtis come out of him and his wife?  
  
Seeing that his father had trouble concentrating on him, Kurtis knelt beside him, taking in his father's features while there still was life in him. There would be no other time after this, there wouldn't be another chance and if there was another life after this one the chances of them meeting were very slim. Still he found no words to say, nothing seemed to be fitting in the situation and none of the scenarios or ways of acting he had thought of fitted to this here event. As he stared at his father he remembered the long days of training. Had Konstantin ever spent time with his son just for fun?   
  
Someone once said that time would heal all wounds. Perhaps there were too many wounds in their relationship, too many to heal in such little time, and all the scars were visible. Perhaps there were wounds that even time couldn't heal. Too much scar tissue existed in Kurtis' life, too many wounds and too many scratches.  
  
Konstantin blinked a few times when Kurtis knelt beside him. After all the years they had been apart, he finally saw his son again. Kurtis' icy blue eyes reminded him of his wife, and the orbs that seemed emotionless were like copies of her eyes. Was it coldness? Now that he looked harder he could see something. It was just a bit in the corner of his son's eyes, but for a second he had seen it. Had it always been there and he had disregarded it? Had he been unable to see the confusion in his son's eyes? Was it really confusion? He blinked again but it was still there. He would've reached for Kurtis if he had any strength in his body but it all had bled out of his stomach wound. What he had been only a few minutes ago had disappeared as his lifeblood wet the ground underneath him.  
  
"Help..." he began, but it seemed that Kurtis was unable to hear him...or perhaps he just didn't want to. Was there any point in talking to him? Could he hear what Konstantin had to say? If he could, would he?  
  
Kurtis shook his head. He had thought that Konstantin would ask him to save the scales from Karel, but when his death grew near all he could do was to plead mercy for himself. Was the last thing he wanted to do in his life to let Karel save all the souls he thought worthy?. Slowly Kurtis shook his head and stood up.  
  
Using the last bit of his body strength, Konstantin reached for his son, understanding fully how pathetic it must've looked, but now that he knew that death was coming he didn't want to meet it. All his life he had thought he'd be ready to face his demise eye to eye, but now he was scared to even take a peek. Not before he had done something to correct his mistakes.  
  
"I...didn't raise you t...to be like...that," he whispered searching any kind of sympathy in Kurtis' eyes with his almost hopeless sight.  
  
"You didn't raise me at all!" Kurtis yelled believing Karel and his little group was far enough not to hear it. "You trained me - like a dog!" He couldn't help showing the helplessness he felt at that moment, and seeing it stopped Konstantin. Had he caused all of that? The confusion in his son's eyes? Was that his doing? He had to swallow hard because he already knew the answer. Because of him, Kurtis was doomed to be on the list of lost cases.  
  
An awkward silence fell over them, and to break it Kurtis turned to look at the woman. Now that he examined her face there was something familiar in her, something disturbingly familiar. It hit him like a lightning. He took off his backpack, opened it and pulled out his wallet. He hesitated for a few moments before pulling out the photograph he had found from his wallet on the Ruzyne airport but finally he did. He looked behind the picture first, but there were no words written on the blank white paper. From the front side the sitting woman smiled at him, as if she could see him from the stilled moment. The years had taken their toll, taking all that resembled life  
  
from her, but if he looked really hard he could see the woman lying on ground smiling at him as she did in the photograph.  
  
He suddenly lost all the feeling he had in the hand which held the picture and thus it dropped from his grasp.  
  
"Mother?" he mouthed, and his shock could clearly be heard.  
  
A sudden cold wave swept over Konstantin. How could he know? He hadn't seen his mother for a small eternity, and still he could recognize her. Time had consumed her face, and Karel's brutality had eaten her soul, but was there still something in her that Kurtis remembered? Was there something in her Karel hadn't been able to steal and ravage?  
  
What caught Kurtis' attention was the slow rising and falling of her chest. Even though she looked dead and her eyes had gone dim her body still lived. Was she alive, or did her body just keep her breathing and heart beat going? Was her body an anchor that kept her soul from sailing across the border? Was it her body that forced her to stay in this world?   
  
Kurtis closed his eyes slowly while his hand traveled to the hilt of the Shadow Katana. The coldness of the metallic hilt surprised him, for it was at least 40 degrees warm in the crater. How come the metal wasn't warmer? Slowly he pulled the sword from its scabbard and opened his eyes again just to look at her still form on the ground. Even though he was sure she wouldn't feel it the thought of ending his own mother's life made him gulp. Would it end someday? How many deaths would it take for it all to reach its ending? He turned his back to Konstantin and raised the katana and struck it to her heart as fast as he could, though the act needed no strength from him. The blade bore in to her flesh like a hot knife into a piece of butter. How could it hurt him so? He didn't even know her, and yet he felt like he had killed someone of great importance in his life.  
  
As the blade slid out of her body he expected to see the white flash of Light, but it never came. Instead of it a black shadowy form emerged from her body, hovered by him a second or two and was then sucked into the katana. A last sigh of her life escaped her lips that were now sealed for an eternity. Kurtis knelt beside her and closed the eyes that had been sightless for years. Finally, she was allowed to let go of her earthly burden, her body which had been useless for ages. With a heavy heart Kurtis turned to face his father again.  
  
Konstantin could only stare. Had his eyes showed the truth? Had he just seen a spirit departing from a body? If not, what had been the dark shadowy human form? What, if not a spirit or a soul?  
  
"Why?" His lips managed to form the word, but no sound came out. He felt so weak and useless. Every time he had thought about his death he had thought he'd go gloriously and wouldn't have to wait for the end. "She...was already d..dead."  
  
"No." Kurtis shook his head as if to stress his words. "A bullet couldn't have killed her, for..." He held a small pause, "...she was a...a...not human." Not being able to say the word, he went around it as well as he possibly could. It was the truth. She hadn't been human and neither was he. They were crossbreeds between two species that should have never reproduced together. As mighty as the angels were, they broke their laws and were envious of something as pitiful the human way of life, the short lifespan, and their descendants had to pay for their mistake.  
  
"No..." Konstantin whispered, his voice filled with agony. "They...all are...monsters."  
  
Finding it difficult to look at his father, Kurtis closed his eyes and swallowed. He took one step closer to Konstantin and dropped to his knees next to him. When his eyes opened again the coldness and confusion were replaced by despair, and it tore Konstantin's heart apart.  
  
"Then..." Kurtis began slowly giving Konstantin time to digest his words. "I am a monster too."  
  
Konstantin was about to say something, but closed his mouth to stop anything utterly stupid from escaping his lips. Instead he reached for his son and Kurtis did nothing to avoid his touch, but did nothing to help him either. Konstantin's fingers only grazed his son's cheek but that one caress meant a world to him. Not being able to hold his hand up anymore he let it fall to his side.  
  
"No." It was Konstantin's turn to shake his head. "There's a... a piece of heaven in -" He coughed. "- you. I...can see it...in your eyes."  
  
They were the last words Konstantin used during his life. Another pair of lips was now sealed and a brilliant mind had finally met its demise. He didn't die instantly after closing his eyes, but drew a couple of breaths before life finally let go its hold on him. Kurtis didn't leave his side immediately after Konstantin's last breath, but stayed there silently as if paying his respects for the dead person. He knew that was the closest thing to an apology he ever could've heard from his father, and thus far it had been the only one.  
  
He stood up slowly, and though he now was an orphan he didn't feel like one. Honestly, he had to admit that for the first time he felt like he had had a father, in the real meaning of the word. Standing there looking at his deceased parents he felt like something was missing from the picture. Konstantin's hand, already growing stiff and cold, still reached for her, and gently Kurtis picked up her hand and laid it on her husband's.  
  
He turned around and followed the path he thought Karel and Lara had taken. 


	50. Doorway of Mist

Disclaimer: The characters from Tomb Raider movies or games aren't mine.  
  
Doorway of Mist  
  
She glanced over her shoulder a few times before was loudly ordered not to. They walked through the crater and up its wall in a certain formation - Lara was in the middle of it and had Karel's boys on her both sides as well as in front and back. Karel himself walked a step or two behind of them as if he were afraid of Lara. He never laid his eyes on her, not once, like he thought a caged animal could still bite. She knew she wouldn't just scratch if the chance came - she would hunt down and kill her cager. She would never give up without a fight for that was the only way she knew how to do it and be proud of. Perhaps that was what made Karel aware. He knew that a tiger would never loose its claws, it could hide them for a while but they'd always be present, just hidden from sight.  
  
It surprised her that the entrance to the Halls wasn't inside the crater for she had believed it to be there. Instead, against all of her expections, Karel's men led her away from the crater and a small way down the mountain side. The evidence of the volcano not erupting recently could be seen - the layer of lava rock was covered in dust and it was smooth from the years of erosion. Time definately had left its mark on the ground eating it away slowly during the days of its existence. Even to the ground it was merciless.  
  
What waited her behind the next turn was something she hadn't expected and it caught her of guard. Before she could stop herself she had sighed as the scene in front of her woke up the archaelogist inside of her. It was like an itch needing to be scratched but her arms weren't long enough to reach the place. It was utterly unattainable, like a place of safety in a nightmare - you run and run but the distance between you and the place always remains the same. To Lara the distance was far too great and, at the moment, it felt like her feet were glued to the ground. She could've sworn that over a hundred people were digging at something that looked remotely like a doorway without an actual door. Two torches still stood by the door like the molten lava hadn't affected them. What made the atmosphere even more eerie was the fact that the torches were lit with light black flames.  
  
She stood still not believing her eyes. How could something made of wood that's been buried under burning rock still exist like nothing on this earth had touched it? It was against all the rules of nature and physics but on the other hand, Lara had seen those rules broken before. Dead had come to life, creatures that should've seized to exists thrived in secret valleys and a dead priest of the god Horus had come to play senet with her just to be beaten by a simple mortal. In this world no laws of nature and physics had a handhold, they were only a lie made up to fool the feeble minds of mortal beings. There was more to this world than they knew of and she had used almost her entire life to dwell in its secrets while the others kept on living their lives. At least now she knew she wasn't the only one - there had been the Lux Veritatis, an organization that had met its end when all but one of its members had been destroyed. Were there other same kind of secreted groups that fought the evil to assure that most of the humans were given a chance to lead a normal life?  
  
"Isn't that strange, Ms.Croft?" Karel's voice made her freeze like all of her limbs had suffered from paralyzation at the same time. No one else had ever had the same power over her and that power wasn't used for good. It was meant to unleash an evil thousands of years old upon this world and this time she was the only one between Karel and the power a being like him should never have.  
  
"Isn't what strange?"  
  
"This" Karel came standing next to her and pointed the digging site. "All the talk of immortality being unnatural, not meant for human beings and a creation of evil."  
  
Lara felt and urge to stare at him trying to get his point but the simple thought of looking at him made her feel nauseous. "And...?"  
  
"Still so many" He signaled to his work force. "Still so many humans are ready to help something they despise just to gain the gift of not having to die"  
  
As much as she wanted to decline that she had to admit he had a point. Of all the phobias the necrophobia was probably the most usual. Not knowing if anything lied beyond death people were ready to follow anyone who gave promises of their names going down in history or prolonged time to walk the sands of this earth.If one wanted to have followers it was easier to make promises that concerned faith, not trust. With enough provocation and promises people were ready to do anything for their leaders even if the creature they were obeying was as far from human being as the nephilim were. History was filled of examples of people taking advantage of the gullibility of the human mind - a creation which was said to be incomparable to animals. But animals learned from their mistakes while humans had a tendency to repeat them.  
  
"Move" Lara recognized the voice behind her. Didn't that man ever learn to speak properly? There seemed to be less than ten words in his vocabulary.  
  
She obeyed all the same. What good could she be if the man behind her fired a bullet in her skull? Surely Karel needed her for something, otherwise she wouldn't be alive anymore. She would lie on the ground next to Konstantin and his wife, already growing stiff because of rigor mortis. Instead of it, she still stood on her own two feet waiting for what Karel had chose to be her part.  
  
Karel's workforce stopped working as the last piece of lava stone rolled of the door. Lara started walking when Karel's little helper nudged her to the back of her head with a gun. Since she had no intention to loose the valuable matter inside her skull she obeyed. They stopped in front of the doorway which looked like it had been sealed with mysterious mist and when she tried to reach through it her fingers could only touch the surface of something cold she couldn't see. There was a door, after all.  
  
"You probably wonder how I knew where one could enter the Halls?" When Karel got no response from Lara he continued. "Surely you didn't think that no nephilim knew of the existance of this place? After all, it was our own who hid it in the first place" There was malice so obvious in his voice that even the people who had helped him took a step back. At least they had some common sense left in their bought little minds.  
  
If Lara would've been holding something she was sure she would've dropped the object after hearing those words. Karel had known entire time? Then what had he needed her for and who had told him about it? Had it been Konstantin? That wasn't possible since he didn't know where the Halls were. Who? Who had let Karel know about something that should never have been brought into existence?  
  
"And now, Ms.Croft, the key"  
  
She could only stare at him. What key? How could she have the key to this door of mist? Where would she have gotten one?  
  
"The sun medallion, Ms, Croft. Hand it to me! NOW!"  
  
The sun medallion. The one they had dug up from Konstantin's friend's grave, the one he had wanted to be buried with him. Had he understood its power or was the reason so simple that he wanted it to stop killing every ten years? Taking a life on that exact same hour once in every decade?  
  
She did absolutely nothing for she wasn't going to be the reason that drove mankind into slavery, into serving something that was a mistake in evolution, a vengeance against the angels and human women. There were some borders in this world that were not to be crossed and some things that were so evil they should never have been.  
  
"It seems that I was wrong about the common sense" Karel grinned and an evil glint could be seen in his eyes. A spirit so wrong and crooked mocked Lara from inside its very human looking disquise. But that was all it was - a disquise, and Lara had seen beyond it. She had seen the wolf in sheep's clothing. Under his skin lived nothing but evil, no sing of angels or humans, just the crossbreed that had inherited the worst from both races.  
  
Karel nodded to one of his men who pushed Lara on her knees and tore the backpack from her hand eagerly opening it. Once he found the medallion he handed it to Karel.  
  
"So..." Karel kept a small pause. "This little thing is all I've needed to pierce the mist all these years" He fingered the medallion. "They thought to be clever to hide the key and between themselves they decided who was to guard it. They only forgot one simple thing" He grinned again and laughed. "You shouldn't keep things that aren't yours to have. They might have some unwanted side-effects."  
  
Unwanted side-effects? The deaths? Side-effects? If that medallion didn't belong to the ones who had hidden the scales then whose was it? If it had the power to kill it couldn't be made by a human hand and she didn't believe the nephilim had powers like that, at least as far as she knew. The only choice that was left was that it wasn't done by anything from this world. It had been found, one more of the things that should've stayed hidden for the rest of eternity.  
  
Karel ran his fingers on the invisible door and soon began to smile as he found the hole where the key fit. "Bring Ms.Croft"  
  
Despite of her resistance Karel's men managed to raise her on her feet again and walked her to the door.  
  
"Now, now. Behave." Karel said grabbing her wrist and forcing her to hold the medallion. If she wasn't held at gunpoint she would've fought her way to freedom but at the moment all of her exits were closed. The nephilim had a firm hold of her wrist and guided her hand toward the invisible keyhole in the invisible door. As the medallion made a connection with the cold mist a dark shadow swept over Lara's hand and before she knew it, Karel had let go. 


	51. Eavesdropping

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine.  
  
Eavesdropping  
  
It soon dawned to Kurtis that it wasn't hard to follow Karel's and Lara's footsteps since their footprints could be clearly seen on the small layer of dust on the ground. Ages had passed this place and their imprint was still clearly seen in the surrounding scenery. Though momentarily the lava stone brought only death and destruction with it, it had also ability to wake the dead landscape to life again. The nature, unlike human beings, could always repair the damage it caused on itself. To be frank, the humans were the only life form on earth that was of no use to its surroundings. The vanity of people had only lead to catastrophes that weren't repairable.  
What was this power of harming the surroundings people had been given? The very power some of them called intelligence?  
  
Kurtis shook his head sadly and continued following the footprints drawn on the dusty floor. They lead over the crater wall and became messier once the small party of nephilim and Lara had walked downhill. Could she still be alright? What did they need her for?  
  
When Kurtis began to hear voices he hid himself as fast as he could. He ducked away from sight and regretted the movement when his flesh met the ground. The contact with earth was far from pleasant. A jolt of pain travelled through his body and even if it was short it felt like it had made its way through all of the nerves he had in his body. Pain. Pain was one of the things he'd be glad to get rid of. Could he still be a human if he couldn't feel pain? No. He wouldn't even be an animal. Every single living organism recognised pain but humans were the only ones afraid of showing it.  
  
No one passed him by and after some time, when he though it was safe enough, he stood up and sneaked toward the sound. The sight that lay in front of his eyes was unbelievable. Two lit torches stood on the both sides of a doorway leading inside the volcano, inside the burning pit. It was hot enough, even here, and he didn?t need a raise in Celsius degrees. It must've been at least 40 degrees.  
  
Crawling closer he hid himself behind a rock for the time being. The place was bustling with people but there was nothing he saw them doing. It was like they were standing still paying homage to something standing near the doorway, something he couldn't see. He had a terrible gut feeling about who that person was and where the doorway led to. Karel. Where all these people blindly succumbing under his command just to gain some little treat he had promised them? Was there a chance he could enter the place without anyone stopping him?  
  
He was unarmed. With no means other than the Shadow Katana to defend himself he had to make a better plan. A plan that could actually work. He couldn't possibly disguise himself as one of the workers for they had very little on themselves because of the heat. He had no means or will to kill them all. He had no other way than to use the 'gift' he was given in birth, the gift he'd rather be without.  
  
He examined the crowd with his gaze trying to find a way he could fool them all into believing something that wasn't true. It couldn't be that hard a thing, in the end, also Karel had managed to fool their little pathetic minds.  
  
While grasping the hilt of the katana he now considered his and breathed in once. There was only one try to this and if it didn't work there'd probably be no way to save his neck and all the other people from what was coming if Karel laid his fingers on the scales. He could only imagine it. A power to rule everyone's destiny after death wasn't meant for any petty un-godlike creature such as the humans and the nephilim. Why had the scales been hidden inside a volcano and not thrown into it? Would their destruction mean the destruction of all things vital to organic life forms to succeed?  
  
He crawled still a bit closer to hear the talking that had been incoherent mumbling earlier. Only now he noticed that the nature remained quiet. Had it been that way all the time he'd been here or had it just happened? Was it quiet only because of this place? Had the nature gone quiet only in here?  
  
Kurtis heard voices, a female and a male one and the other was familiar to him. Lara? At least she was still alive and if they were standing there by the doorway it could only mean that they hadn't gone after the scales yet.  
  
"How?" He heard her ask. It was definitely her. She had the same, a bit demanding tone that still held the spark than when they had first exchanged words. Even in a situation like this she could keep her cool. It was an admirable feature in her character. During his years Kurtis had met enough people to know that the majority of them belonged to the faceless mass but Lara wasn't one of them. She had a character and it had its good and bad sides but still it was more than most people ever had.  
  
"How I knew you had the key?" He had never heard Karel speaking. At least he though the man talking was the head of the nephilims, the one they obeyed and were ready to die for. Sadly, it was for entirely different reasons than it should've been. Giving one's life in Karel's hands without questioning his goals, not believing that there could be another way out of it all,  
reminded him about himself somehow. Blindly the other nephilim yearned for their leaders praise like he had yearned for the love of his father. He, unlike these foul creatures, had been able to see the truth: It didn't matter how much you tried you couldn't make another person like or even love you. Only thing you could manage was them being proud of you but being proud and liking wasn't the same thing. Being proud didn't even come close.  
  
Karel's voice didn't sound like he had imagined it to. He had believed it to sound cold and vile but it was surprisingly human-like. Well, Karel was partially human and he shouldn't forget that there was a bit of nephilim in himself too. Was it the way he had been raised that made the difference between Karel and him? Could it be that simple? Surely the nephilim too had a choice but were they too devoted to their cause or just too blind?  
  
"It is simple, Ms.Croft." So the woman was Lara. "The poem written on the sun medallion is the only way to find out the location of this place unless you're one of those who created this place. They were the dissident nephilim and I'm sure you're just a normal mortal." Normal was far from what she was. "So, the only remaining possibility is that you had found the medallion."  
  
"How did you know about its existence, then, if it were the dissident nephilim sealed this place?" She asked with a hint of mocking in her voice that probably made Karel boil even more, or at least that was what Kurtis thought. She sure knew how to make people mad but perhaps she was making the wrong person or thing angry this time.  
  
"When there still was dissident nephilim," He began. "They held the amulet in a secret place which, in the end, wasn't that well secreted at all. Some of the dissidents were true to their cause but the others had inherited too much of this overrated thing you call humanity. The weaknesses of your species are your short lifespan, feeble mind and the love for vanity. They didn't inherit the short life but all the other weaknesses, yes, and a weak mind is easy to bend."  
  
"So you bribed them?"  
  
"Not them, just one." He then said something in a language Kurtis recognized to be some sort of dialect of the language the nephilim used but the words were spoken in such a haste that he didn?t have time translate them in his mind. One of the men took a step forward and then bowed grinning widely. A traitor. Kurtis sighed deeply. Now there was no doubt of how Karel knew the secret that wasn't for the mankind to find out. The weakness of a human heart beating in the creature's nephilim chest had given him a choice and he had taken it. Betraying the ones who had given him their trust he had sought for his own interest and placed it first, dropping the safety of the world on the second. What had he gotten by doing that? An eternity serving Karel , obeying his each command and living by the rules he had been given? Was that the grand price he had been promised or was the best yet to come? Had he ever wished he could go back in time and make his wrongs right?  
  
"I see." She said in quieter tone than usual. "So it's the quiet one.?"  
  
"He might not talk much but is worth his weight in cold." Kurtis saw how the grin on the traitors face grew wider as if he lived from Karel's praising. Was that why he had betrayed the dissidents? That constant flow of compliments directed to his person? Was it the only reason why he had given up his beliefs? Karel was indeed right - a human heart was weak and indeed easy to fool but rather than the twisted heart of the nephilim race Kurtis'd take the human one any day. 


	52. The Narrow road

I'm truly sorry that writing this update has taken me so terribly long. At first I wasn't even sure how to continue from the point where I stopped the last time. Hope this isn't terribly lame.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Tomb Raider games or movies.  
  
The Narrow Road  
  
She had been in many tombs and crypts during her life but this one was different and she knew it. The very atmosphere the stone walls around her held within was dark, not because of the lack of light but because of something that seemed to suck out all the hope and happiness there was in her heart. The walls themself appeared darker than they actually were and the coldness emanating from then creeped Lara to her bones. In none of her dreams about the place where the fates of people were decided had she imagined something like this.  
  
Heaven seemed to lack a hold in the hall she now stood. The hell, on the other hand, could be seen in every corner and every single dark spot existing in the large space. She couldn't see the roof of the large hall above her but she didn't know whether the reason was in the room being so high or just too dark.  
  
The faint light shining into the room from the still open doorway was soon consumed by the darkness and the torch she lit wasn't of much help either. It seemed that the air itself inside this place was death to all the light around but it still yearned to reach out from its depths and receive something not meant to it. In more ways than one the place reminded her of the creatures that had built it. They also yearned to bathe in light but their origin of birth forbid them from doing so. The sadness she felt for these creatures took her by surprise but perhaps they had deserved being thought of with heavy hearts.  
  
If these walls could talk she wondered all the tales they'd have to tell. How gruesome would they be? Could they fill her in of everything that had taken place within them?  
  
Suddenly she felt a gun pressed to her back.  
  
"What is taking you so long, Ms.Croft? Shouldn't you be a professional in this?" The voice was barely a whisper but Lara knew it was Karel's. They man had no patience, none whatsoever, or then he was so full of his own immortality that somewhere in between he had forgotten her being a petty mortal.  
  
If she only had some means of escaping or hiding she would've turned and fought for her freedom but since she was outnumbered there was little she could do. She'd just have to wait for a better time and there was nothing worse to her than waiting – she preferred action. If she was a waiting kind of girl she would never have started her tomb raiding career. Instead of it she would've sat 'home' every night waiting for the tea water to boil.  
  
She felt the gun being pressed harder against her back – Karel was growing very weary of her taking time like this.  
  
Now she knew why she was needed. Karel needed someone to avoid or at least find the booby traps there might be in the halls. She was a living minesweeper only taken along for Karel to achieve his goal faster. She could just walk into a trap straightaway and try to bury the nephilim with her. No – that would mean giving up and letting go wasn't go side-by-side with her spirit.  
  
She knelled, studying the floor in the dim light of her torch trying to avoid as many traps as she could. It didn't matter how closely she looked, the floor still seemed as dark as ever. She touched it with her hand feeling the utter coldness but there was no way the stony floor would remain cold inside the volcano.  
  
She could see nothing on the walls and the floor but far in the other end of the room a light shone. It wasn't an ordinary light – its pale and blue created an eerie feeling, so out of place the light seemed in this room.  
  
If she would take a step it might mean the end of her life but it'd definitely end if she decided to stand still. Carefully she took a small step and to her horror heard the sound that had never caused anything good. A soft 'click' echoed through the hall followed by the sound of something massive tearing through the air that had stood still for ages and she felt a soft wind on her face.  
  
And then there was light but instead of feeling relieved Lara only felt oppression building up inside of her. The red shine creeped along the walls and floor lighting up markings on the walls and the roof. The markings were large and looked like some ancient writing. The light shone through the symbols like through silk paper making the whole space bathe in dim red. The room itself looked like a church of some satanic culture or cult. A narrow bridge led from a doorway to another and she was standing on the last safe spot.Normally glancing down wasn't an option but she felt an urge of wanting to find out what was there below her. On both sides of the bridge there was a abyss in which no bottom could be seen. There was nothing but the faint red glow sowing that they really weren't bottomless. The ones who had built this place had surely given it a lot of thought.  
  
Suddenly something swung across the air and she felt the wind caressing her face again. Even though the room was cold the wind was the only thing making her feel it. A moment later the large blade traveled through the air again but now there were more of them, each one swinging to a different beat.  
  
Pendulums. The single word made her remember how much she hated those things and in not getting hit by them the timing was the most important factor. Great, just great. She happened to have impatient company in a situation where patience was considerer to be a god-given trait. There was no avoiding the pendulums if she was held at gunpoint all the time and forced to hurry. She felt the gun pressed to her back harder.  
  
"So this is what you needed me for." She hissed through her teeth as she bit them together.  
  
"I thought you would've found it out sooner. Perhaps you aren't that smart you play to be." Was the response in a voice colder than the room they stood in. "Now, Ms.Croft! Raid!"  
  
She wrapped her fingers around the torch like she was afraid of loosing the dim source of light and hope she held in her hand. She needed to concentrate on the pendulums. One strike from them would end her life easily and to her horror the only thing she could imagine at the moment was the pain it would cause her. _You're going to owe me a lot after this, world_.  
  
Her gaze followed the first of the deadly blades counting the rhythm it had in it's swinging. Time after time she stared at it as it easily flowed through the air with no signs of slowing down. There was something here that made them last, something that made them fill their petty reason of existence.  
  
Not facing back she closed on the first swinging blade ready to roll when the time was right. The blow of the wind on every time the blade passed seemed to grow stronger forcing her to fight against falling down. Why couldn't they just destroy things that were never meant to be found? Why was it easier to built a tomb for them, a crypt of hiding their darkness for ages until there was someone who found out the secret? Why had someone embodied a terrible force in an object and in their lust of power undone it?  
  
The pendulum glided through the air again, gracefully, almost beautifully, making art of the death it promised, humming a lullaby bringing calmness into the hearts of its victims. She nodded her head each time the metallic death passed her by and then, when she was ready, rolled forward thus avoiding the embrace of the blade.  
  
The second one had another rhythm, a faster one. It fiercely divided the air into two as it swung itself across the room. Where the first one had promised peace this one had other intentions. Each time it passed her she again nodded her head not wanting to miscalculate and being struck with the rage of the pendulum. After the fifth time the object flew past her she stepped forward, fast, and after the first step took two other thus being out of the blade's reach.  
  
Also the third one seemed to have a mind of its own. Anger shone of it and the red markings on its sides grew dimmer each time it soared through the room. It wanted to strike her down, it yearned to harm her, cut her in two. To her it felt heavier than its predecessors and seemed to possess more power than the two last ones. The rage it slew the air with was unbelievable and it seemed to be wanting to punish the air around it. This one was there to kill and she was grateful the blade was unable to change its course. Once more she nodded her head before dashing forward thus surviving to fight at least for a moment more.  
  
A scream behind her forced her to look back but only thing she could see was one of Karel's helpers falling into the bottomless abyss. For a moment the air was filled of blackish light that disappeared as the second pendulum struck the air again.  
  
She forced her attention back to the task at hand. There were two more pendulums to go, each having their own rhythm and aura, both possessed with magic not known to any living civilization. Perhaps it was something that the early nephilim had inherited from their angel fathers, something that was the last thing left to remind them of the greatness they were born from.  
  
The fourth blade was fast like it needed to hurry somewhere. It was eager to travel through the air, not seeming to want to harm her so much than the third one. There was no grace in its movements, they were rash and restless. The markings on the blade were dark green but their shade didn't alter , it remained the same. This one seemed to be the one that had broken the air with such strength that she had heard it before the reddish lights turned on. It was far tougher to get through than the ones she had managed already.  
  
She soon noticed it had no regular rhythm like the other three. It moved with two different speeds and it never followed any order in doing so. First it moved with the slower one and as soon as she took a step forward it hastened its speed soaring back to her in such a haste that she was sure the thing had a mind of its own.  
  
Determined to get past the bridge she rushed forward as soon as the blade had passed her and managed to get out of its way just in time.  
  
The last one wasn't following any rules. It soared through the air at a speed that best fit its intentions and the black markings at its side glowed dangerously. Counting couldn't help to get her pass this one so she just had to go for it and if for nothing else then for everything she had ever believed in she would do this. For Kurtis, she would. She took a deep breath letting the air fill her lungs and darted forward as fast as she could. The doorway was only a few steps away. She could make it, she would make it!  
  
All of her hopes to reach the doorway dried away as she felt the coldness of the blade entering her body. It had been too late after all. 


	53. Between Heaven and Hell

Thank you for the reviews. It's wonderful to hear that there are people who still think my work is worth reading. This one must be the lousiest chapter I've ever written but please don't crucify me because of it.  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters appearing in the Tomb Raider games or movies belong to me.  
  
Between Heaven and Hell  
  
She waited a flash of pain but it never shot through her body. She expected to black out but the doorway still loomed ahead of her like nothing was wrong. Only thing she could feel was the coldness as the blade of the last pendulum flew through her like she was air to it or like it was air to her. Even thought she should've been killed at the very strike of the blade she was still alive and kicking. She dived for the doorway, stood up and faced the five nephilim still behind her.  
  
Karel still had his weapon drawn and pointed at her but the only one by his side was the former dissident. The three others had only the last pendulum to pass. It was now or never if she wanted to escape. This could be the best chance she'd ever get. Lara turned around and rushed forward only to hear a scream behind her.  
  
Another of Karel's helpers was forced to find out if the bottomless pit had a bottom as the final pendulum struck through him. The dark smoke she could only assume was the thing's spirit was eagerly eaten by the blade as the body disappeared into the darkness.  
  
The last thing she saw before dashing to the next room was Karel taking his true form, the very same she had seen in Eckhardt's laboratory in Prague. Even though she couldn't see them she could feel the gaze of the entirely black and soulless eyes on her, urging her to stop like his willpower had any power over her. The markings on his face so evident in her mind she ran forward not wanting to face the inhuman creatures that were chasing her.  
  
How come had the blade slain the nephilim but not her? She didn't need to question herself long because of that for the answer was evident - he had been something she was not and she was something he could never be, no matter how hard he'd try. Had it ever occurred to the dissidents that the humans could also find this tomb as well as the nephilim?  
  
There was no more time to give it another thought as she exited the lit hallway into total darkness. Didn't this place have lights at all? This time around she didn't even have a torch, or no matters whatsoever to bring light into this room. The darkness around her was something she'd have to come to know in less time than she usually had. Her only hope was that the nephilim would have to face the same darkness.  
  
She knelled and guided herself with her hands slowly even though she knew she had no time for it. Too much was at risk here for her to simply throw away her life by running around without not understanding where she was and where she was supposed to go. Silently she hoped that she'd step on some kind of a switch that would turn on the lights like in the last room but no matter how far she crawled the room stayed dark. Sighing deeply she stood up and for the first time in her entire life started having second thoughts about always being there to save the world. This far she had been in it because of the thrill and glory it brought but crawling around in the dark erased all the glory of the situation. But perhaps the Halls had something more to offer in their deep, under the volcano, something even she hadn't seen before.  
  
She walked forward leaning to the wall on her left and even though it felt cold, slippery and clammy she didn't let go. It was her only guideline through the room now that the torch she had was gone and Karel had taken the possession of her backpack.  
  
Her fingers landed on something that to her opinion wasn't a part of the wall. It wasn't cold as the rest of the walls and a strange warmth radiated from it, making her hopes rise again. She pushed the object hard and took a step back to see if her act had caused something helpful.  
  
A single high shriek forced her to protect her ears with her hands instead of holding on to something. A shock wave blasted from the wall she had been leaning to just a little while ago as the missing light of the room rushed through the wall to drive away the darkness that had taken the control. The force of the shock wave threw her of her feet and over the edge of the small walkway she had been standing on. Out of reflex her hands reached out to take a grab of the edge as her body went over it. Painfully she dashed against the cold stone and her fingers fought to keep her from falling as her feet sought footholds in the rocky wall.  
  
As she looked up the room was filling with glorious bluish light. It seemed to be coming from whatever she had touched on the wall since she couldn't see its source. Before she could climb up there was a hand in front of her, white and filled with markings telling her instantly who it was on the narrow walkway.  
  
"And what if I refuse?" She asked her usual tone returning. Even when hanging from an edge she had her spirit. What use would it be to show your enemy your fears and let them know that they had the upper hand in the situation? To her it was the very same thing than giving up and letting the nephilim win. No, he would never know how close of giving up she had been while the room still bathed in darkness no source of light in sight.  
  
"Ms.Croft." Karel started mockingly. "Did you really believe I couldn't do this without your assistance?"  
  
"Then why am I here?" She asked, breathing faster as her fingers began to loose their hold on the edge. She would hold on as long as it took, even though in the end her fingers would bleed.  
  
"How could I say it the best." He laughed still not able to express any emotions with the simple gesture. "You're the backup since I don't like surprises."  
  
Not ready to die yet she reached for the hand of the nephilim trying not to think how disgusting it was. Of all the beings she had met during her career the nephilim were the only ones with a heartbeat that didn't even have a bit of a soul in the human sense of the word. They had a spirit of some sort, yes, but they totally lacked most of the feelings she thought humane. There was nothing to erase the darkness from their hearts.  
  
The nephilim pulled her up like she weighed nothing at all. When she was standing on her own two feet again she took a look at where the light came from. The wall on the side where she was standing was painted with multiple colors and the angels the painting portrayed had dressed up in similar colorful fashion. A name was embroidered on each of the angel's clothing. There was laughter on their face and sadness in their eyes, a small glimpse of something not angelic. Was it a hint or remorse or yearning she couldn't tell but these angels weren't happy in their given form.  
  
The bluish light shone from the rocks embedded into each angel's chest. Was this an attempt to show the goodness in them, a tint of blue shining from their chests, their hearts. There was an enormous conflict between the shine of their hearts and sadness in their eyes. These beings weren't happy no matter how good and pure they were. Perhaps some of them had seen or felt a glimpse of a mortal life where the fear of death forced humans to live like each day was their last. Maybe the same angels had been envious of the human heart, not good and pure, but filled with life in a sense that was foreign to them. Was this what had driven them into deserting their principles? Just because they wanted to feel something they weren't supposed to know existed? But how can you miss something you never had? How could they dream of having a human heart if they had been angels all their lives?  
  
As she turned around she faced another wall, dark and grim, with only a little grayish light shining from the hearts of the beings she believed to be fallen angels. They didn't have horns nor had they long tails with an ace of spades in the end. Their skin wasn't red and on their face there wasn't an evil grin. They weren't so different from the beings on the other wall. The major difference she could see was that instead of having a smile on their face the fallen angels were expressionless and their eyes were empty - the sadness had abated.  
  
Humans had a tendency to yearn for immortality, eternal life and a life without sickness. The angels had wanted to feel the same as the humans, not contented in the limited range of emotions they were given. Had the two species thought that together,in between them, they could create a race free of diseases and death but still have joy in their hearts?  
  
The more she looked around the more clearer it came to her that there was no other way out of this room than the one they had arrived from. The narrow walkway went around the round room and in the middle there was another gorge reaching down into something that she was unable to see and without Karel she might be heading down toward the bottom. A single spike reached up from the nothingness like it was reaching for something in the roof.  
  
There had to be something in this room she hadn't noticed yet, some kind of a mechanism to operate an ancient door or another way out of the room. After all the scales were supposed to be in here. She turned to study the wall on which the angels with pure hearts were painted to find a hint, something, anything.  
  
And suddenly she found it. Behind the painting seemed to be writing of some sort and to her surprise she understood it - it was Hebrew. Someone had painted on it either to make it unnoticeable or just harder to find. The beings that had designed and built the Halls hadn't been overly afraid that someone would find it one day. Perhaps they had believed that the last of them to fall would take their secret into their grave.  
  
She heard the overly familiar clicking of a gun and knew she was once again at the wrong end of the weapon. She glanced at Karel who was now holding the gun like it was his new best friend. His patience was growing thin, she could feel it, and silently she was glad over the fact. It seemed that he hadn't learned to be patient no matter how many years he had been given.  
  
She turned her attention back to the text hidden behind the painting and began to read aloud.  
  
_"From heart to heart and soul to soul  
They believed being able to transfer the glow  
That was once a gift from the above  
Not meant to the creatures living below  
  
Greedy for something not meant to them  
Descended did they down from heaven  
Believing to find a beautiful haven  
Only to end up in place worse than hell  
  
Cry after cry, tear after tear  
Knowing they had lost everything dear  
And only created something to fear  
Realizing their mistake most severe  
  
The time they had lost they can not get back  
The mistakes they made always darken their path  
The glory of the days past their descendants will lack  
Living and dying feeling the wrath."_  
  
That was all there was written on the wall. She eyed through the rest of the wall to find a single marking more but there were none to be found. She glanced at the angel's hearts again thinking if they could be removed. Not asking for a crowbar or something similar she hurried to the other painting where the fallen angel's blankly stared at something only they could see.  
  
Her eyes scanned the other painting carefully trying to search something underneath it like in the other painting. There were names embroidered on these angel's clothing also. It took her far more time to see anything behind this one because the grayish light was dimmer than the bluish one showing how much light these beings lost by doing wrong.  
  
There was writing behind this painting too, but it was much smaller and much harder to notice. This one they had wanted to hide for some reason. She could guess it perfectly well, even the beings that had built this place had came to the conclusion that what it held in its depths was not to be found again. The writing was still in in Hebrew which helped immensely since she probably couldn't have understood the nephilim language if they had one.  
  
She had already understood that she needed to change the places of the hearts to get into the next room, perhaps this text would tell her how.  
  
_"In a dark heart there is no light."_  
  
It was only the one simple sentence but now she understood the names embroidered on each angel's clothes - pure and fallen alike. But how could she know which ones had fallen and which ones had not?  
  
She bit her teeth together knowing that she had to ask help from the nephilim standing in front of the painting across the room. Quickly she looked through the names on the painting of fallen angels before she finally turned to look at the other one.  
  
"What are the names of the angels in that one?" She tried to keep her voice down not wanting to cause anything that could make the place collapse on them. She wasn't sure if it'd kill the nephilim so there was no idea in throwing her life away just like that.  
  
Karel seemed surprised. He probably hadn't expected her to co-operate so willingly, not even if she was forced. Maybe he had expected her to fight back so that he'd have a reason to take her life. After a few seconds he signaled one of his remaining companions to check the names on the painting.  
  
The man moved walked slowly toward the painting, searching a name from each of the angels robes.  
  
"Arphugitonos, Armaros, Rumyal, Gadiel, Baraqel, Barachiel, Azazel, Kokba'el!" The man soon yelled back at her.  
  
Eight. There was eight angels in both paintings. That meant that there needed to be as many wrong ones in them. If there were three fallen angels in the painting about heaven there needed to be three angels from heaven in the hell. So they needed only to know how many wrong names there was in one of the paintings.  
  
She went through the names on the painting of hell once more:Habriel, Yephiel, Aristaqis, Basas'el, Farris, Pendroz, Betryal and Uriel. Now how could she tell which ones were in the right place?  
  
She remembered some of the names from what she had studied about nephilim while Kurtis had been hospitalized but her knowledge alone wouldn't do. She needed to know all the names, not just a few of them. As far as she remembered Aristaqis was a fallen one and thus he was in the right place but there still were seven to choose from. Seven angels that could belong in heaven instead of hell.  
  
"Ms.Croft! How long is this going to take?" Karel yelled from across the room with a bored voice.  
  
"Faster if you would assist me. Some of the angels in that painting do not belong there. Which ones?"  
  
She couldn't believe her eyes. Karel turned to look at the painting but perhaps he wanted to get the scales so much that he didn't care if he had to help the feeble mortal a bit.  
  
"Five!" He yelled back at her.  
  
Five. That was just great. Out of the seven she had left in her painting she had to pick five. She didn't want to ask it of him again. Habriel, Yephiel, Basas'el, Farris, Pendroz, Betryal and Uriel, she went over the names she had left again. Betryal…it did have a certain hint of betrayal in it and in the end, what was there to loose. She yelled Karel to separate the hearts of the ones that didn't belong there as she began to separate the ones she thought were wrong. As far as she was concerned Betryal could stay.  
  
If she had learned anything in the religion classes in school the Uriel was one of the prime angels and belonged without a doubt in heaven. Gently she took the stone pretending to be his heart of his chest and was surprised that she didn't need to pull at all. Even though separated from the wall the stone still held its grayish glow like it itself had generated the light. Gently she put the hear on the walkway and continued what she had been doing. Habriel, Yephiel, Basas'el, Farris, Pendroz. Of those five one didn't belong in the group, it belonged to the painting it still was attached to.  
  
She bit her teeth together and slowly seperated Farris' heart from his chest waiting for the roof to fall or something similar but nothing like that happened. Four out, four to go.  
  
Wishing to find a hint, any kind of hint, she stared at the four remaining angels that still had their hearts in place. She examined their eyes - nothing, she examined their faces - nothing there either, she examined their clothing but that remained the same as well.  
  
Taking a deep breath she removed the closest heart to her, Habriel's heart, and still the room remained whole. Yephiel, Basas'el, Pendroz. How could she decide between the three of them. One of the three was a rotten apple, a snake, a traitor and she had to guess who it was. Of all the things she had studied during her years she hadn't believed she needed to know the names of the fallen angels.  
  
"Ms.Croft!" Karel's annoyed voice echoed from across the room. "Aren't you ready yet?" Then there was the thing she had waited to hear - the clicking of his gun and the barrel was pointed at her. No matter how fast she moved after he had fired the weapon wouldn't matter - it'd find its goal anyway.  
  
_"In a dark heart there is no light."_  
  
She remembered the line she had translated only a few moments earlier. Which of the three was the dimmest? Now that she really looked the heart of Basas'el didn't even seem to glow the grayish light the other two did. Hoping for the best she pulled out the other two - and the room remained still.  
  
Two of Karel's men came to carry the gray hearts to the other painting and the traitor dissident brought her the light blue ones that still glowed the bluish light. The source of that shine seemed to come from withing the stones.  
  
"Here you go, Uriel.! She said as she placed the last pure heart in the last empty socket. Karel and his two helpers had finished the heaven a while ago and the dissident had been left to watch her. He still had his gun pointed at her like she would run away.  
  
The hearts in the angels chests first shone dimly but as seconds flew by their shine grew stronger as if being in the right chests would've made them beat again. From every heart a single ray of light, either gray or light blue, left and they met in the middle of the room blasting the room full of blinding whiteness. She was forced to cover her eyes with her hands and turned her back to the light as if it would've helped. The rays of light formed one, crimson red, that shoot out from the middle of the room to the wall left from the painting of heaven. 


	54. The Hole in the Rock

Disclaimer: Once again, the characters from Tomb Raider games or movies aren't mine.

The Hole in the Rock

As soon as she thought it was safe enough to open her eyes she did and noticed that the bright white light had vanished and been replaced by dim red one. The single ray of light that still shot out from the source of the light formed by the hearts pointed toward an opening. The power of the single ray had been enough to destroy the stones that had hidden the doorway. The nephilim still covered their faces like they were in pain or afraid that the light was still there. She didn't know the reason for their behavior but wasn't going to waste her chances of getting away.

She stood up quietly and sneaked toward the doorway trying not to make any sounds. It didn't take long for the nephilim to understand what was going on. The bright light that had hurt their eyes so had now abated and the room was flooded with crimson one.

She had made it to the doorway and as soon as she noticed Karel standing up she sprinted forward, running for her dear life. She wasn't going to loose this time and whatever lay forward she didn't care – there was no other choice than going on.

She was surprised that she couldn't hear her running steps against the floor, she couldn't hear a thing – it seemed that the space she was in destroyed every noise made inside it. At least she wasn't in the dark now, the hallway she was running along was lit with red, painful lights. Lamps filled with crimson light lined the corridor creating a ghostly atmosphere but she had little time to investigate them further, her business here was other than that..

She sprinted through the corridor only to find herself in another one. A long hallway loomed in front of her but she felt no desire to run through it. Long hallways in tombs were usually not hallways but some deadly trap – this she had proved a time after time. The ancient civilizations had had a great need to place everything from spikes to poison arrows in their constructions to prevent anyone from seeing what they hid. If they had known they were guarding something so terrible then why did they make it possible to find? On the other hand, if they hadn't done so she would never gotten interested in tomb raiding.

A single gunshot got her moving again – was that bastard nephilim trying to shoot her? Her dying here began to seem inevitable she chose rather to die in a way of her choosing and not by some unnatural creature's hand.

Here and there she could see something metallic glimmering inside the walls but didn't give it a second thought.

As her feet carried her further into the corridor her ears began to fill with too familiar noise – more blades and yet she did not see them. Only a few running steps later she saw the source of the noise – the metallic echo of the blades filled the corridor as they began to struck fast out of the walls still far away from her but drawing nearer to her. As she realized what was happening she stopped and glanced back seeing another set of similar blades chasing her. If she stayed here she was going to get cut into pieces.

She glanced at the approaching blades once more, closed her eye, reminding herself why she was doing this and dashed forward pushing herself to the edge of her strength. The noise of metal hitting metal drew closer to her and it didn't matter how fast she ran it would catch her and there was the other set of blades in front of her. If she only could stop at the right spot that the metal wouldn't cut into her flesh because she knew this was metal and not the material the pendulums had been made of. She could see the little dirt there was on the floor soaring through the air as the blades hit the ground in a lethal force and were pulled back again inside the wall. The glimmer of metal in the walls, the glimmer – now she understood what it was. The blades, hidden in the wall, were given away by the slight metallic shine through the thin layer of stone that protected them. She hadn't seen any cracks in the walls – had the blades impaled the rock to get free?

Another set of the blades thrust themselves through the thin rocky wall causing small pieces of stone to explode from the rock. Pushing herself harder she dashed forward to the awaiting doom to avoid the one behind her. Being close enough to the approaching blades Lara ducked and stood up as soon as the blades had passed, sprinting forward just getting out of the way of the other blades.

She ran the short way there was to the next doorway but stopped dead as she noticed she had arrived to a round chamber illuminated with small candle-like lights. They twinkled in different shades of blue and otherwise reminded her of candles except there was no candles in these ones. The lights seemed to float in the air and slowly moving around. They brought spectacular warmth into the room, lighting up every single spot there was to be seen. But the atmosphere in the room could not be fixed even with the warmth of the small lights: The chamber reeked of death, it was written on the walls and the floor without a single letter. This place was the end of all life, a doorway to death and whatever was on the other side. Even though the little lights made the room soulful not even them had the power of banishing the death that resided so strongly in here.

The chamber itself wasn't decorated in any way. The walls looked like the chamber had been carved into the stone, even the floor was rough. Only thick roots of trees encircled the room and made their way to the roof. In the middle of the room a single object stood on a pedestal that seemed to be made out of glass. What really surprised her was that there wasn't supposed to be glass during the years this place was constructed.

She stepped forward to take a closer look of the object, the scales, but couldn't tell for sure what it was made of. She reached out her hand and let a single finger slide on the surface of the object, feeling its coldness numbing her limbs. The scales of Judgment held no grace or beauty and for the first time during her career she felt no pride in discovering something ancient. There was no glory to be received from this. A single feather lay in the other of the cups of the scales looking light but still securely attached. Whose soul could weight only that little?

"Found anything interesting, Ms.Croft?" She had completely forgotten about Karel. This was the part where she would've turned around, pulled out her guns, fired at the approaching figure and ducked for cover. That is, if she only had her guns.

"What I've discovered doesn't match my definition of interesting." She pointed out, her voice showing her growing annoyance. No one could push her around this long and live to regret it.

The nephilim looked around with his black, emotionless eyes while his three remaining helpers held her at gunpoint. Oh what she would give for a little distraction.

"You see these little lights?" He asked but didn't wait for her to answer. "Do you know what they are?" Again, there was no pause for her to say anything. "This is what you are, this is what you will always be. They all look the same."

What was he talking about? In the back of her mind the small voice was telling what the bluish lights were – souls, one of every single dead person not already judged. They all were similar to each other, only their shades were different. How could one tell where they all belong? How would one know their crimes? Would their guide be one of the glowing lights? What about Konstantin? Where did they all go after this room? Was there an other side? Questions she would never get an answer for ran through her mind, an endless litany of inquiries of a studious mind, as Karel ran his hand through yet another little light, yet another soul.

"Nothing." His voice was arrogant. "Ethereal and never free, dependent on something as silly as judgment."

"It is better than having one's destiny already written." She snapped back at him.

The remark could've earned her a bullet between her eyes from one of Karel's helpers but the man never got to fire his weapon. His cry of death was suffocated as the blade ran through his back from back to front sucked out his soul in one grayish flash. His eyes showed enormous disbelief as the life he had thought was eternal left his body.

Lara needed only this one diversion. As the nephilim closest to her aimed at whatever had taken the other's life she kicked the weapon out of his hands and ducked after it.


	55. Hope in Hell

Hope you aren't terribly mad at me for not updating for a few months. I just haven't had the slightest interest to write for a while but today, finally, I felt like writing some more.

Disclaimer: And again…I don't own the characters from any of the Tomb Raider games or movies.

Hope in Hell

Sneaking closer to the doorway into the Halls of Doom Kurtis was trying to create a plan that would distract Karel's workers for long enough time for him to get in. Not having his chirugai with him anymore he had to trust in his mental abilities and that meant putting his hopes in something he nearly abhorred.

He lay hidden behind a pile of rocks, which was no doubt part of the result of the mountainside excavation. Not many meters separated him from the misty doorway now and he could see the sun medallion glinting in the air like some invisible force was supporting its weight. Having seen stranger things in his life he left this one to be marveled by the workers of the site.

He needed only one distraction but it wasn't as easy as that. For a small while he needed every single worker there to look somewhere else and hope they weren't witty enough to see through the distraction.

The old 'rock-to-the-bush' -trick was too obvious and couldn't be used since the risk was too high. What other possibilities were there?

Suddenly the dim bulb began to brighten - a single truck stood facing him on the other side of the excavation site seemingly abandoned. Perhaps it had already served its purpose for today and wasn't needed anymore. A facetious smile crept to his face, as he knew what was about to happen. He slowly stood up and retreated behind a large enough obstacle to hide his standing body. He only needed to see inside the truck to be able to control it.

He stood still and breathed in deeply to relax himself. He closed his eyes held out his hands palms outward. Suddenly his eyes shot open revealing only the sclera of his eyes. His body stood like a salt statue but his spirit was free to wander wherever it wanted.

Like air he floated through the excavation site to the truck that stood on its place in perfect silence. He avoided the workers even though he believed there was no way they could sense his being there. The truck itself looked older and more corroded near than from afar and to Kurtis it seemed like it had stood on its place for weeks. Not having to open the truck door he floated through the open window. The heat in the truck was almost unbearable and for a moment Kurtis was grateful that he had left his body behind. He only hoped no one would discover it standing there on its own.

He had never grown used to driving any kind four or more wheeled motorized vehicle and thus had chosen motorcycles over cars. He knew how to drive a truck, though. In fact he had learned it in the foreign legion he had joined after running away from home. At the time it had seemed like a good idea but now…would he do something differently given another chance?

He concentrated on the handbrake slowly releasing it. He turned his thoughts to the gear stick willing it to move into another position. Slowly it slid to reverse and the truck began closing the verge after which the speed would increase immensely. As soon as the truck began reversing the excavation site was filled with shouts showing the astonishment of the workers. In his invisible form Kurtis glided through the site once more and dived back into his body.

Kurtis' body jerked awake and hoping the diversion he had caused was enough he sprinted for the doorway of the Halls of Doom. Feeling enormously relieved having managed staying unnoticed he passed the doorway and entered the tomb. But the relief was short lived as he soon noticed himself standing in a room bathing in dim red light and had stopped just before the tenuous bridge with dark abysses on both sides. If he hadn't done so he might as well have gone to meet his maker. The five pendulums guarding the doorway across the bridge traveled through the air with almost unnatural force as if they had had a mind of their own - one collective mind all set to kill anyone who dared to enter the Halls.

"What a creativity gone to waste", Kurtis muttered to himself stopping the first pendulum blade in the air with his mind. Whoever had designed and built this room hadn't thought of the possibility of a Lux Veritatis warrior coming for a visit one day. The second pendulum was as easy to pass but the weight of the third gave him some trouble. Even his mental powers had limits and secretly he hoped that they would through this room and into the battle he knew was coming if he survived that far.

He almost slipped as a sudden thought ran through his head - had Lara survived this room? Had she lived on or had her body fallen into the black pits so eagerly awaiting for sacrifices? What about Karel? The Lux Veritatis warrior highly doubted that either of them had met their demise in this room - Lara was probably too stubborn to die in a tomb and Karel too willing to rule the world or whatever it was he wanted to do.

The fourth pendulum he had no trouble with but the fifth he only managed to slow down enough to get out its way.

The next room he stepped into also bathed in dim red light, which seemed to be coming from the middle of the room where the light beams from the stones in two paintings rendezvoused. The beams from the stones were dim but the one pointing to an opening in the wall next to the other painting wasn't - it glowed in deep crimson and must've been the source of light in the room. Not wasting his time on where the light actually came from Kurtis ran to the opening and entered it.

Also this room bathed in reddish, sickening light but now he could identify the source of it. Angelic statues stood on both sides without a door and each of them held a lamp. If it hadn't been for the red light the sight would've been pleasing to the eye but now the only emotion that this room managed to create was intense pain. Some of the lamps were broken and the glowing red liquid was slowly dropping to the floor from the remains. Like he was bewitched, Kurtis walked nearer to one and dipped his fingertips in the liquid only to pull back his arm quickly. Whatever it was, it wasn't water and it almost felt like…blood. But blood wouldn't glow like that - not human blood anyway.

Not seeing anything important in the room he kept on going knowing that every second he lingered might be fatal for Lara and for the world itself. He kept a steady running pace since he didn't want to tire himself out - what help would he be for Lara if he was in no condition to fight? Somewhere near he heard metal hitting metal.

After the next turn he stopped dead on his tracks, as he understood where the noise had come from. In deathly speed they charged from the walls and as soon as they had appeared they disappeared inside the walls again. Not having long to study the blades Kurtis rushed forward, having only one thought in his mind - to save both Lara and the world but to his surprise he thought the world as trivial compared to Lara.

There was no way he could stop all the blades with his mind - three or four at most but they moved on such a speed that it wouldn't have helped at all. There didn't even seem to be any mechanism to stop the blades altogether so that option could be left out, too. The only remaining one was the timing - dodge at the exactly right moment and don't hesitate since in this game hesitating could loose one one's head.

As soon as the first set of blades closed on him again and began to retreat, after it had reached the end on his side, Kurtis followed them. If he blew this now he could say bye-bye at least to one of his limbs. He dreaded the moment the other set of blades would meet up with this one but it was inevitable - it was the way the system had been built, to squash everyone who ever tried to enter the Halls.

As the second set of blades came near enough Kurtis rolled hoping to escape being sliced and to his surprise lived to open his eyes again. He used the same tactics on the other set of blades too hoping that this would be the final trap in this place - but after all, these had been created to keep out the nephilim and he was one only partly. There could easily be more to come.

He began to hear voices - someone was talking in the next room and as he took a peek around the corner he saw two backs obviously belonging to men. But the voice in the room was a female one and its owner didn't seem to be afraid of the men who had surrounded her in the small chambers. That could only be one person - a small smile took over Kurtis' face. Not even in a tough situation like this did Lara loose her composure. She remained as calm as ever but that was the trick in her profession - you could never show the enemy your fears, doubts or suspense for if you did the game was over. There'd be no cards left, no aces up in the sleeve. Once the enemy had seen all your cards the only thing you could do was to blame yourself of your stupidity. But Lara wasn't like that - she knew the cards she had and that her hand wasn't a winning one. But what she didn't know was that there was a joker in this game too.

Kurtis sneaked around the corner and closed up on the men as quietly as he possibly could, seeing there were four members in the enemy team and three of them were holding Lara at gunpoint. She needed a diversion and quick. Not wanting to alert the nephilim he decided to abandon the rules of fair fight - it wasn't even likely that the creatures would fight fairly given the same situation. They'd take every advantage they could get.

He took one last step closer to the man nearest to him grabbing the Shadow Katana and without any regrets thrust it through the back of the man in front of him. The man's body stiffened and he let a surprised sigh escape his lips. As soon as Lara noticed what had happened she kicked the gun from the hands of the nearest nephilim and threw herself after the weapon.


	56. The Judge

Thank you everyone. It's wonderful to know you enjoy reading this. I hope you can forgive me my inability to write action scenes.

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Tomb Raider games or movies belong to me. I only borrow them for a while. No profit is made from this.

The Judge

Her body came to a painful contact with the ground but she didn't care – she didn't have time to care. Possible cuts and bruises could be treated later on but now she had more important things at hand. Wounds would heal, the world after Karel's domination wouldn't – the scars would be there forever even if someone managed to destroy the source of evil itself.

Her palms clad in fingerless black gloves reached for the weapon she had managed to kick free from the nephilim's hand. It felt strange how the gray object laying on the ground seemed like a salvation to her, but having always counted more on firearms than martial arts, she saw it as a better option than attacking the nephilim with only her arms and legs. As most the remaining enemies focused on the new threat she had just enough time to reach the gun. Feeling relieved she wrapped her fingers around the weapon and pushed herself up from the ground.

A quick glance over her shoulder told her that her helper had dark brown hair with piercing blue eyes and her mind immediately connected those features to a certain Lux Veritatis warrior. Not having more time to study the person, she ducked avoiding the kick aimed at her by the weaponless nephilim. Knowing she wouldn't have enough time to turn around, aim and fire, she relied on her agility turning around and kicking blindly at something that was behind her. The nephilim was taken by a surprise, as her foot caught him in the stomach, and he stumbled back a few steps but regained balance shortly.

But the few moments the nephilim was out of the game were all Lara needed to get her act together. She sprinted toward the nephilim but underestimated her opponent's swiftness and was taken aback when the man avoided her attack but instead of standing there dumbstruck she forced herself to keep on moving to avoid the possible hits directed at her body.

Another bullet passed Kurtis' face closely, warming up his cheek with its passing flight, as he ducked. The traitor dissident muttered something incoherent and reloaded his weapon with amazing speed, never letting his sight of Kurtis. The Lux Veritatis warrior took the advantage of the situation by standing up and readying himself for the next attack that was surely about to come. He only needed one good hit to the heart of the nephilim. Since Kurtis wasn't sure if hits to any other body part would kill the creature he had to keep dodging as long as it was possible for him to strike his opponent down with only one hit.

Karel, in the meanwhile, was observing the act of his helpers, Lara and Kurtis with amusement in his eyes. Having trained his sons and the dissident nephilim with utmost care he deeply believed that the mortals stood only a little chance against the two that remained of his helpers. Karel raised himself up to air while the others kept on fighting and prepared himself to battle.

Lara was having a hard time dodging the hits of the nephilim fighting against her even though he had to be younger than her – younger than Kurtis – if he was a son of Karel's. And from what Konstantin had told her she was sure this indeed was the case.

As she ducked the nephilim's hit and once more swung her fist at the being she could only wonder how two so different beings can be brought into this world by the same woman. The thought escaped as quickly as it had arrived as her wondered off mind was woken up by a punch to her stomach. As she stumbled a few steps backward she protected herself from the new punches as well as she good even though a few of them found their goal.

_I will not be beat up by a bastard_, she thought to herself as she tried to come up with a new fighting strategy. She fake-coughed a few times trying to express being fatigued to give the creature a sense of triumph hoping he would fall into her trap.

And he did – the years of his life and being trained by Karel had not taught him the cunning of the human beings. He didn't seem to believe that people, too, were able to act if they were in pursue of a certain goal.

The nephilim took the bait – he rushed toward the woman who looked beaten and defeated but it was his turn to be surprised. As he came near enough she raised her eyes to meet his and in a blink of an eye he realized that he was staring directly at the barrel of the gun in her hand. The moment seemed to last forever to him and for a moment he allowed himself to think that it was never going to end. He didn't hear the gun firing nor did he feel the bullet boring itself into his skull. All of a sudden the silence just ended and he fell on the ground.

Lara knew it wouldn't keep te nephilim down forever – the creature was immortal, after all, or at least invulnerable to most weapons. But her victory was shot-lived as a green flash of light struck near the wall next to her. Lara glanced up seeing Karel floating in front of the scales and in his hands glowed green light. Not knowing whether he had intentionally missed her or was if it was just a bad aim she dashed forward not having any idea of how to defeat him.

Kurtis was starting to get tired of dodging the bullets fired by the dissident nephilim. He had seen Lara defeating her own opponent and dashing toward Karel like there was no other option on hand. She didn't even have a weapon to defeat her but at least the man had had enough dignity not to kill her when he had the chance.

The dissident fired at Kurtis but the weapon just clicked, out of ammo. Furious, the being threw the weapon to the side of the room and approached Kurtis drawing a dagger from the sheath on his belt. A crooked smile took over Kurtis' face. At last they were in the art of fighting that also suited his choice of weaponry. His fingers squeezed the hilt of the shadow katana knowing that his weapon wouldn't be able to defend him from any strikes. Anything but light could pass through the shadow.

As the dissident attacked him Kurtis avoided the hit easily by jumping aside as the being was close enough. Knowing he had to keep his distance to the dagger Kurtis circled the nephilim avoiding each swing aimed to end his life. He had to admit that the former dissident was skilled with the blade and he had a tough time dodging all the hits.

"What are you planning to do, Ms. Croft?" Karel's voice held a hint of mockery in it and his face confirmed it – the nephilim thought she was ridiculous or at least entertaining. To him her and Kurtis' efforts were like an annoying swarm of mosquitoes to a human being – the noise was there but no real harm could be done. But what he didn't know was that some mosquitoes carried diseases fatal to human beings.

"The same thing I always do – save the world." She told him her voice not showing a slightest hint of fear.

He laughed coldly, his entirely black eyes directed directly at her. "With that?" He didn't point out the weapon in Lara's hand but she knew he meant it. She shook her head not taking her eyes of him and let the gun fall on the ground. She knew well enough that bullets had no effect on him when he was like that – they wouldn't even slow down his speed.

Kurtis grinned as he heard the metal clank informing the dissident in front of him had been successfully unarmed. The creature himself didn't seem to be worried about this fact – when one lived for hundreds and hundreds of years they had time to practice multiple ways of fighting. All the others Kurtis could defend himself against but the natural powers of the nephilim race.

And that's exactly what the creature did. When he ran out of weapons he relied in the one that had been given to him in birth. With a wave of his wrist he directed a bolt of light green fire at Kurtis who managed just in time to avoid being burned by the nephilim fire.

Karel grinned as he saw Kurtis being no problem at the time and he could concentrate on destroying the annoying tomb raider. When he had come this far in getting what he had always wanted he simply wouldn't give up now.

Lara knew what was coming and dodged before the bolt of green flame even left Karel's fingers. She just needed to keep him occupied long enough for Kurtis to finish off the dissident nephilim and knowing that the task would be anything but easy she readied herself for a tough ride. She knew that as an opponent Karel would give her no time to relax and would shoot her in the back if he felt the need to. As another bolt of flame left his fingers she rolled forward thus dodging the death awaiting for her in the embrace of the green fire.

As she had guessed, Karel's power was infinite. The nephilim didn't seem to tire himself as he floated almost gracefully around the round room firing bolts of fire at Lara who was beginning to feel fatigued from all the dodging and ducking.

"Die, mortal!" Karel shouted, boredom shining through from his voice. He was like a child bored with a toy but instead of forgetting about Lara he tried to destroy her.

Another bolt of green fire left his hand and this time it was almost a hit. Lara failed to see that one coming and instead of docking away from it she was thrown of her feet and tumbled to the ground. As she once more climbed to her feet one single thought took over her mind: Can't you finish with him already, Kurtis?

Lara wasn't the only person ducking for their life. Kurtis followed suit as he once again threw himself away from the trajectory of an incoming nephilim fire bolt. Not having a moment to stop and think his strategy through he kept on going in the hope the chance would soon be offered.

It offered itself sooner than he had thought possible. As the dissident nephilim got ready to fire another bolt of fire he saw movement in the corner of his eye. Lara had stumbled on the floor, panting somewhat and Kurtis saw his chance. The next bolt would never leave the nephilim's fingers if Kurtis had anything to say about it. The Lux Veritatis warrior darted forward and with all the strength he could muster slammed his fist into the nephilim's stomach. The creature grunted being caught off-guard and tried to regain his composure – but to him it was already too late.

Before he could even think about it Kurtis had already run the Shadow Katana through his heart and he could see his immortality erupting from the wound in a shadowy form. As fast as he had struck the katana through the nephilim he liberated the blade from the creature's corpse that lay on the ground unmoving. Hoping that Lara could hold Karel busy for a little while longer he ran to the body of Karel's son.

The man lay unmoving on the ground even though the wound on his forehead was already beginning to heal. Feeling strange sort of longing Kurtis had to remind himself of what his half-brother was like before he thrust the katana deep into his chest.

Having lost both of his helpers in such a short time the grin on Karel's face took a turn from better to a worse. His floating turned from graceful into hazardous as he now had two objects to take her by himself.

"Two against one? This is hardly fair. Are you sure you don't need any back up?" His voice was venomous and for a moment Lara thought she heard bitterness caused by the loss of his family in it.

Lara just grinned at him teasingly and dodged yet another bolt of flame aimed at her.

"I give you one more chance to join me, Croft." Karel hissed through his teeth. "One more chance to be something more than this!" Almost furiously he imprisoned one of the small blue lights floating in the room in his fist only to see it escaped his grasp. He opened his fist his face glowing with hatred.

"Not in this life."

"So be it!" The nephilim hissed and squinting his eyes aimed his next bolt at Kurtis.

Not having anything to hide behind Lara and Kurtis concentrated all their energy in dodging not even trying to approach the nephilim. His helpers might have humane mistakes due to the mixed blood of the both races but she highly doubted Karel would fall for those same ones.

Karel kept his eyes on both Lara and Kurtis keeping himself back to the wall like fearing there'd be someone who would stab him in the back. It was a precaution against enemy which rather met their opponents face to face in a fair engagement but to the nephilim it seemed impossible for someone to have enough morale not to take advantage of their enemies like that.

In all the dodging and avoiding being hit Lara and Kurtis lost their time. The little blue lights seemed to form lines like they were forming an image but Lara forced this thought out of her mind. It seemed to her that she wasn't able to think straight anymore. She didn't know how long she had been running and jumping but even her body had it's limits and those limits were soon going to be exceeded. A glance to Kurtis told that his stamina was wearing thin, too.

Kurtis was panting, hard, and everything in his appearance told her that he didn't have much of his strength left. Only his will kept him going on since his hope was fading when he saw Lara knowing she wouldn't last long. Something had to be done and soon or there would never be any end to their little cat and mouse play.

Karel was enjoying more than he could've ever anticipated. Having his enemies running from him like that gave him a total new feel of power – one that he had never known existed. In the world of maggots he would be a king. No, not a king – a god. In this new flush of power his face regained the grin of enjoyment it had held earlier and he sent one more bolt of green fire at Lara.

Only hitting her this time…

She bit her teeth together to kill the scream that would've escaped had she not done so. The fire had hit her on her left thigh and in the impact the flames also charred her side. She fell on the ground as the wave of pain flashed through her making her body and mind yearn for unconsciousness. On the contrary she felt it as she stumbled to the ground and remained conscious.

Kurtis was still running but his speed had decreased due to his lack of stamina. His breathing had changed from peaceful, long breaths into short ones that only just gave his body enough air to keep on running. But in his weakened condition ,in which all of his focus was directed to staying on his feet and not falling down, he forgot to keep an eye on what Karel was doing. Suddenly, taking a look over his shoulder, Kurtis stopped and saw Lara laying on the ground, winking at him. He stood still for one second too long and gave Karel time to aim.

The bolt struck him to the right shoulder throwing him off his feet. As his mind tried to comprehend what had just happened his fingers let go of the hilt of the katana unknowingly. The metallic hilt clattered as it fell on the floor but stayed still after a few moments.

Karel couldn't help but laugh as he saw his opponents fall on the ground, both taken aback by his powers and durability. Now that everything standing between him and the scales had been taken care of nothing would stop him from using the power of the ancient artifact.

He descended from the air and sigher in relief as his feet made a contact with the ground. He stepped toward the scales like he had no worry in the world. As his fingers caressed the scales a grotesque smile took its place on his lips. All he had ever wanted was in front of him – all the power in the world within the reach of his hands. His fingers traced the outlines of the scales and greedily he took a hold of the object examining it with interest. There was no need to revive the old nephilim when you found a way to create new ones.

As the nephilim slightly raised the scales form its pedestal he saw a something glimmering under it. As he knelled to take a closer look the shiny surface of the small gem the scales had been placed on dimmed visibly and soon it glimmered no more. To his surprise Karel noticed that the small gem reminded him of the sun medallion that had opened the door.

With multiple thoughts running through his head he touched the surface of the gem. No one had ever told him of its existence, not even the dissident nephilim he had managed to get to betray his fellow dissidents. Just as he was pulling back his finger the surface of the gem again changed taking a darker color and before Karel even knew it an eye opened in the middle of the blackness of the gem looking directly at him.

The nephilim quickly took the a firm hold of the scales and turned to make his grand escape when he saw it. A figure of blackish smoke stood in the only doorway leading out of the chambers with its glowing red eyes staring at him. In its hands the creature held the sun medallion and repeated the one and the same number all over again: one. When the creature took a step closer Karel backed up one step unknowingly approaching Kurtis.

The Lux Veritatis warrior stared at the back of the approaching nephilim not seeing what he was so afraid of that he backed up. Clambering to his knees Kurtis took a look around trying to locate the Shadow Katana seeing it lying only few meters away from him. He stood up too fast his body letting him know of the pain caused by the burn on his shoulder. Leaning to the wall he slowly made his way to the katana and dropped himself on his knees next to it. Grateful for the object being there he slowly wrapped his fingers around the hilt.

Lara stirred and to her luck the small dim blue lights didn't hurt her eyes. She too laid her eyes on the backing nephilim who stared at something neither she nor Kurtis were able to see.

Karel could only stare at the glowing red eyes and he could feel the hatred of the creature and the word it repeated rang in his ears. Whatever this thing was it seemed to be a guardian of a sort – a keeper of these halls. But a being like it could not be from this world or this plane of existence.

Kurtis stood up carefully and took one unsteady step toward Karel clenching his fingers around the hilt of the katana. If he had to head stab the nephilim in the back and live with it for the rest of his life rather than die here today being too weak to stop the creature. He carefully raised the blade and got ready to strike Karel down.

Lara kept her eyes on the scales in Karel's hands and stood up as fast as she could. She wasn't going to let him take the artifact, not in this lifetime and not in the next if there was a thing called transmigration of souls.

Karel wasn't going to let the being take his key to the world domination. No matter how much it must've wanted the scales it couldn't have them. In a blink of an eye the nephilim turned around to search for a way to escape but his eyes only met the angered ones of Kurtis. The shadow of the katana in the Lux Veritatis warrior's hands now seemed a threat to the nephilim's own existence for the first time.

Kurtis couldn't believe what he saw – on the face of the man in front of her was a pleading look as his eyes tried to search for sympathy in Kurtis' blue ones. Karel's hands were still wrapped around the scales protectively like it was something that really belonged to him.

"Not in this lifetime." Kurtis said coldly before he thrust the shadowy blade through the nephilims chest into his blackened heart. Karel's fingers instantly fell limp and he released the scales and let it fall.

Lara, having limped nearer to Kurtis during the few last moments of Karel's life, now kicked herself into running speed and lunged toward Karel and the scales as he let go of the object. Jumping forward Lara reached out her hands not caring if the return to the ground would be a painful one.

As the scales landed on her hands not breaking the whole scene Karel had been backing up from emerged before her. The being with the blaming red eyes turned to stare at her amazement she recognized it. It had been described in the papers they had found taped in Nikolas' notebook. The same red eyed shadowy creature that had sat by the bed of the person who had written those papers was now standing in front of her. It took a step closer and all she could sense were its eyes on her. They were scanning her like a prey.

No, they were scanning the scales.

"Kurtis…" She sat up and glanced at him over her shoulder. The man behind her turned to look at her with amazement in his eyes.

"What is it, Lara?" His voice was filled with relief and bewilderment. He couldn't bring himself to understand why she talked on a hushed voice.

"We're not…alone in here." Her voice was filled with caution as she turned to face the red-eyed being again. Couldn't he see it? Remembering Karel's acting few moment earlier she looked from the creature to the scales as her mind made the connection.

"There's nothing here with us anymore. Nothing alive." He added as he looked at the four corpses on the floor.

"It wants the scales…" Her voice was slow and peaceful.

"What wants the scales?" He knelled in front of her and looked her in the eye expecting to find them empty or expressing some sort of insanity. But what insanity could've been brought upon her in such a short time?

"It's…standing right behind you." She looked over his head into the flaming red eyes. "It's fingers…on your shoulders."

Sudden coldness swept over Kurtis but he didn't know if it was because of her words or the room temperature dropping rapidly during the last few seconds. Suddenly he felt something warm on his shoulders and as he took a careful peek he indeed saw the black fingers there. Not wanting to see more he turned to look at Lara again.

"What is it?" He asked as if he really believed she would know.

"The spirit inside…the sun medallion." She kept a small pause as she remembered the poem behind the medallion. Was this the keeper or the one that served it? Was it the slave or the master? The power or the mastermind? "The keeper."

She eyed the creature of the black mist as it stood behind Kurtis with its fingers on his shoulders. Did it want to…trade? His life for the scales? What if she gave the scales to the creature? What was weighing down each pan? Kurtis' life on the other pan and the rest of these spirits in the other? Would she condemn them into hell if she decided to hand away the scales?

She turned to look at the scales in her hands – the object that held the most value of all the artifacts she had discovered during her travels. Yet it was the one she didn't want in her house – it was the one she didn't want to keep. She couldn't sell it for it would fall into the wrong hands and she had no want to keep it herself. Suddenly the fingers on Kurtis' shoulders didn't seem that bad an option. She gently raised the scales toward the spirit.

Kurtis stared at her in amazement as she offered the scales as a peace treaty but didn't say a word. He wanted nothing to do with the scales, with the object that had robbed his parents of him. He felt the coldness leaving the room as the creature lifted its hands off his shoulders and reached out to receive the scales. When its fingers touched the object Lara let go immediately.

She had never experienced such coldness in her life – it was as if the creature's touch had frozen over the scales and she had to pull back her hands saving them from being frozen solid. She saw the creature stepping back its long black fingers around the scales protectively. It walked slowly across the room to the place where the scales had stood before Karel had touched it. Laying down the object the creature of black mist began to dim and soon could not be seen.

The scales stood on it's former place as one of the small blue light emerged on the pan that didn't hold the feather.

"It's the judge" Lara could only whisper before she stood up. Kurtis soon followed suit and they watched as one soul got to the better place.


	57. Epilogue: The Pond of the Lost Souls

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters.

Thank you for everyone who have read this story and I truly hope you have liked it also. As sad as it makes me feel this is the last update there's going to be.  
Epilogue: Pond of the Lost Souls

The black waters stood still, not a single wave disturbed the surface of the dark pool. Even though he knew what resided in the dark waters he still had to wonder if the beings were really there. Kneeling next to the pool he stared silently into its depths feeling it luring himself to join the others of his kind. Where the nephilim side in him wanted to dive into the water and never resurface the human side, the stronger side, strongly advised him against it. What would wait for him there, within the dark liquid? What would wait for him - a person who had never known of his angelic inheritance? Would he become a shadow, like his kin, and dwell within the pool for the rest of the eternity or would his humanity override the darkness planted to his heart in his birth?

Next to him stood a simple urn, a metallic container to hold the earthly remains of a human being. What had once been a creature capable of loving was now an amount of gray dust that fit inside a small urn. All the feelings and thoughts the person had felt had now been turned into ash to be mourned over by the people who's lives the deceased one had touched by his actions. Only thing left of a man hated by many but loved by more was now standing next to Kurtis. A life no one would love again.

"I never believed I would break into a church here" Someone behind him whispered. He only nodded. In the silence they stood he felt strangely warm like he was embraced with comfort he had never received before in his life. The people who were supposed to love him had either left or simply hadn't care. In their lives they had found something more important to care about. Their pride and work had overcome their love for him.

They both stayed still in the silence like honoring the beings dwelling in the depths of the pool, the beings that knew only a little about a thing called about honor.

The silence was broken when a single shadowy form appeared on the surface. It slid gracefully toward the two of them like it was one with the water, like it was born of the darkish liquid in the heart-shaped pool. Its movements were slow as it carefully divided the surface in two as it neared Lara and Kurtis.

He found strange kind of beauty in this being that was never meant to be. If he could've described the feeling freely it felt like a connection. In him was a part of this being - the part that was dark and mysterious, the part that could be seen in his eyes when they didn't join the smile on his face. And the other feeling, immense sadness burned to the heart of this particular shadow. The feelings planted by the being's human parent - the one that had lived while Kurtis' grandmother had walked among the men. But unlike the other shadows in the pool this one had had heart large enough to store love and mind beautiful enough to understand the concept of that particular feeling. In this pool it was one of a kind not only having known the thing people called humanity but also feeling it.

The being stared at Kurtis with the eyes it didn't have and for a while he thought it smiled with the lips it no longer possessed. A single sigh echoed in the room as the being whispered to him in language that no longer had any words - the language that had no one to understand it anymore. Kurtis slowly moved closer to the edge of the water and leaned toward the being as it raised its shadowy hand from the waters to touch his cheek. Even though the touch was cold and clammy to him it meant the world and beyond.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The person behind him asked and this time he turned to look at her. She had a bandage around her thigh where the nephilim fire had hit her. Many would've fallen in love with her outlooks but to him there was also other beauty in her than the one that met the eye. In her adventurous spirit was something that ignited a spark in him. She wasn't a porcelain doll that would break from a single touch and she didn't want to be. Those dolls were a reminiscence of the world she didn't want to live in - the world she had been born to - the world were people lived their lives from day to day drinking tea and attending grand parties. It was a porcelain world and the beauty of it was as frail as glass. A single stone could break that world a part but in hers stones were something she stepped on, not capable of breaking her world.

"Lara..." He began, turning to look at the pond again. "The two things he loved the most exist in this room - my mother and his work. The two things he couldn't do without and the things that in the end were his doom."

"But..."

Kurtis shook his head sadly. "It takes more than the faked affection in photographs to love. I was expendable." He couldn't hide the small hint of sadness in his voice and his tone alone spoke more than the words leaving his lips. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, it still hurt and he knew it would hurt forever.

Slowly he opened the urn and looked at his father's earthly remains. In the urn was the proof of where mortality ended and immortality began. The only place a human being could be immortal was in the memories that he left behind. Graves were used again when there was no one to remember anymore but sometimes the person's deeds could carry their soul in the memory of the humanity through centuries and beyond. Legends could be told, folklore of the heroes past - the ones who stood tall when someone broke their knees.

Standing up Kurtis took the urn and held it tight in his arms. Swallowing hard he tilted the urn watching with sadness in his eyes as the gray powder slowly floated through the air on the surface of the water. In the dark of the room the ashes looked like snow in fairy tales, dancing in the air it seemed to Kurtis like his father was leaving his final farewell to this earth he used to love. The shadowy creature slowly glided through the human remains and dove deep into its watery grave.

Kurtis slowly stood up holding the now empty urn in his shaking hands. He knew what or who the being had been and from now until the day he'd die the only memories he had of him mother were her lying on the ground unmoving and soaring through the through the dark waters. He had no picture of her to show him her smile when she could still form the said expression without lying to herself - without having to tell herself that some day she'd have something to smile about again. But someday might never come - it was one of the phrases people made up to fool themselves out of fearing mortality. To fool themselves to think they were immortal.

Lara also stood in silence, questions running through her mind. In a short while she had borne witness that souls existed - both nephilim and human. The essence of the nephilim after their death held an immense beauty even though most of them had lived a life of a monster. In the black pool she thought she had seen the part of nephilim that was angelic - in the pool resided the angels thrown down from heaven. Only after their deaths were they able to hold the beauty of the other of their parents.

After what she had seen in the Halls of Doom made her want to die even less. In the end the fate of all humans were in the hands of the red eyed shadow, the judge. but who is to say that the being apprehended the concept of humanity as the humans did. Would the deeds considered sublime in the mortal world still hold their value in the scales? Would the deeds thought not to be so rightful still weigh down the pan? Or was it to the judge to decide? Had someone given it an ability to rewrite the rules? Had it been gifted morale higher than any human being's? How were the rules written deep down in its mind - would good things come to those who lived their lives in the hope of getting to the better place? Would what was in the heart matter - did the humanity deep down still have value?

She wondered what lay after the death of an immortal being? They couldn't receive what was in order for the mortals but was their fate really to exist in a limbo for the rest of the eternity? Would they be granted an absolution if they were found worthy or would the one who threw them down from heavens hold the grudge until all the time in this world was through? As she stared into the depths of the dark waters she came to the conclusion that in this world nothing lasted forever - not even immortality.

Her thoughts turned to Karel and how he had believed he would inhabit the earth long after both she and Kurtis'd be gone. And she remember the look of disbelief in his eyes as the Shadow Katana slowly drained what he thought was forever from him. They had left him laying in the small chamber the katana still embedded to his chest. At first they had wanted to find out if the blade could forgive him but then Kurtis had told her about St. Anne and how the katana had kept her imprisoned. She remembered thinking that perhaps in this world being existed that didn't deserve their freedom - not even after their death. Karel had been free long enough during his years alive, long enough to have lived too long. Shortly after their escape there had been an earthquake that buried the entrance to the Halls.

As they both turned to leave something fluttered to the earth from Kurtis' jacket pocket. As he picked it up he saw it to be the one he had found from his wallet in the Ruzyne airport - the one portraying his mother and father in their wedding outfits now smiling like knowing their happiness wouldn't last. Instead of being black and white picture the photograph now supported colors but still it seemed to have been taken through a veil of mist. But he had dropped it on the top of Haleakala and never picked it up again. How had it ended up in his jacket pocket? He hadn't even worn the jacket that day. He slowly turned the picture around and only saw two words.

"Thank You"

The End 


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